A Hawk's Plight
by The Obsidian Pen
Summary: The Fourth War was over, peace has finally been achieved. Sasuke, unwilling to let this peace be at risk, continues to train his new-found powers to make sure this peace will last. When he practices with a Rinne-Sharingan Jutsu for the first time, however, things don't go as planned and is sent somewhere unreachable. Regardless, he will do anything it takes to come home again.
1. The False Poet Travels Abroad

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 **Chapter 1 Dos-Point-Oh!**

 **This rewritten chapter is more unique than the other rewritten ones, because I made sure to keep my old style of writing format. I consider it a homage, so don't expect this style again until the middle of chapter 5 till 15.**

 **Special thanks to the amazing author,** **ShadowofheartsXIII** **, for giving me the motivation and inspiration to write this story. His work is what influenced me, and I couldn't recommend his unique and amazing stories enough.**

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 **Previous Chapter Is Gone, Because It Was Utter Junk; Also, Poor Rhyming Is Now Part Of My Funk!**

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 **Chapter One: The False Poet Travels Abroad**

 _'Has it truly been two years since then?'_ Sasuke Uchiha thought as he remembered the finals days of the Fourth War. He could have sworn it was sooner than that. _'How things have changed in such a short amount of time. Even after the issue with another Ōtsutsuki.'_ He couldn't help but wonder as he was consumed in the nostalgia of the Chūnin exams within the Forest of Death.

Many of the comrades he was willing to kill years ago were now his friends who would die for him as he would for them, they were his only family now that those he shares blood with were gone, but that was temporary. The Uchiha clan was composed of only a single person, but it grew one more member a few days ago with a new addition to the family even if not by blood, Sakura Uchiha, formerly Haruno.

Indeed, after over a year of a hassling on-and-off dating and his return home for the time being, he finally proposed and she happily agreed to it. The elders were certainly pleased with 'revival' of the Uchiha clan, but Sasuke didn't marry her simply for the revival. So those wrinkly bastards can go and _fuck_ themselves as far as he was concerned.

Sasuke never could forgive them for their involvement with Itachi's sacrifice, but he withstood their presence for those he cared about. Sakura, his beloved wife; Naruto, his brother-by-bond and best friend; Kakashi, his mentor and Hokage. Compared to these three people alone, Sasuke would not betray Konoha and his friends by slitting the elders' throats; no matter how tempting it was.

 _'The Uchiha clan aren't the only ones seemingly going to be revived.'_ While they would soon tie the knot, Naruto still had admirers who were willing to throw themselves to the hero. One in particular, and most deserving in Sasuke's opinion for her patience alone, tended to shy away from the blonde fool when push came to shove.

However, that shyness was dying away recently, and she finally accepted the Uzumaki's proposal after the problem on the surface of the moon a week or so ago. She still sputtered and blushed when talking about the upcoming marriage, though. _'Even with my time away while traveling, somethings just don't change,'_ he thought in mild amusement about Hinata.

However, the one thing that did change was peace. Finally, many people's hope for peace throughout the Elemental Nations has come, but it was no doubt as fragile, even with the unity between nations being stronger than ever. Sasuke had no doubt many people were strengthening themselves to keep the peace going from any opposition, ninjas in Konoha included.

Lady Tsunade gave Naruto a Senju arm, but the Uchiha knew that it wasn't needed since the blonde fool was strong already, but didn't doubt it would be useful when he became Hokage.

Naruto wasn't the only one strengthening himself, though, as Sasuke began training to master the Rinnegan over the two years he acquired it. First and foremost was being able to deactivate it until it was needed. It was a fickle process, but he finally found a way to cut off the Six Paths Chakra from flowing towards his eye, making it black once more.

Once that was out of the way, he spent most of his time training his new eye and its abilities as he traveled around the continent. The Paths were his to use at his leisure, even though the multiple perspectives from the Animal Path was jarring even today. Sakura told him that Pain was able to use all the summons at his disposal at the same time, which was certainly an endeavor from what the Uchiha experienced with only a few extra eyes.

Once he mastered the Naraka Path, however, Sasuke used its restoration capabilities to bring back his arm. It was a painful process to say the least. The Uchiha gripped his restored hand at the memory. _'The less I use it for myself, the better.'_ He had no intention of losing a limb again, and regrowing the arm from the bone was far from pleasant.

Regardless, he would not waste these capabilities when he could use them to keep the peace, and now he was going to delve into a technique that he could _theoretically_ use. The one technique that gave Sasuke and Naruto hell when they fought Kaguya, the **Amenominaka**.

 _'Few could win against me if I used it, and even less could survive if they won.'_ They would be trapped in another dimension, so their loss was assured regardless of the outcome if they won against Sasuke or not. But he needed to learn it first.

He had seen Kaguya use it with his blessed eyes enough for the workings of the technique to be ingrained in his mind, but he still lacked the Rinne-Sharingan itself. Sasuke either could use it, or not at all.

Looking around in the familiar forest, the Uchiha saw no one in the near vicinity, then looked to himself. He changed out of his travelling clothes into the wardrobe he had at home, which was similar to the one during the Fourth War. The Uchiha fan proudly displayed on his short-sleeved, grey shirt, and Kusanagi still strapped on his rope-belt at an angle on the back of his waist.

Sakura occasionally implied that it was perhaps a time for a change of style, and considering that he intended to return to his travels after his visit in Konoha, she was probably right, but he would get on that later.

"It's time," the Uchiha told himself and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and began routing the necessary Chakra towards his eyes. Sasuke could _feel_ the Six Paths Chakra begin flowing around his eye in a peculiar manner. It took him time and experimentation to find the pattern to be able to mimic it, but he found it eventually.

Opening his eyes once more, he saw the same lush greenery that made up the forest, but far more vividly. Activating the Rinnegan in one and the Sharingan in the other was a success, a simple and familiar action, but now was the moment he delves into experimentation of dimensional travel.

With hand seals to assist, Sasuke's Chakra began forming the properties and shape needed for the **Amenominaka** technique. With a final seal, he muttered, " **Amenominaka**."

And just like that, he was over familiar lands of lava he had seen two years ago. The sight, while frightening in its own familiar way as he drew closer to the pools of molten rock, had Sasuke feel a certain level excitement. _'Success,'_ he thought with a small grin. If this was used in battle, it was practically a sure-win strategy.

Biting his thumb to draw blood, he had his palm face towards whatever world he was on. " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu.** " Under him was an explosion of smoke, and it contained his hawk summon, Garuda, who saved him from a molten death as they flew over lava.

Sasuke looked around, recalling the fateful fight from years ago. He couldn't help but feel some pride for the success. Doubts were in his heart at the idea of attempting a Rinne-Sharingan technique, but that quickly put to rest when he saw he was capable of it.

Time of being in another dimension was over, and it was time to head home. Forming the Chakra again for the technique, he said one more time, " **Amenominaka.** "

Another blink, another dimension, but it wasn't what he was hoping for. Around the unhappy hawk summon, there was snow wherever he looked, and the blizzard he was in blinded him from seeing any farther. Already he began feeling the unnatural chill seep through to his bones, and Garuda was having trouble staying steady in this storm.

" **Amenominaka,** " he said once more after forming the necessary seals, and again he was in another world that wasn't his own. "This isn't good." Concern started to grow as he looked around in the world of rumbling earthquakes and geysers.

Further thoughts stopped when a geyser struck Garuda's belly and having the hawk leave the dimension in an explosion of smoke, causing the ninja to start freefalling. His eyes saw the rumbling ground coming closer and closer, but again, he made a leap of faith. With grit teeth, he shouted, " **Amenominaka!** " He closed his eyes as his body hit soft sand.

Standing up, the Uchiha saw his surroundings and believed he was near Sunagakure in Kaze no Kuni, but that immediately went out the window when he saw two suns in the sky. This wasn't his world; not even close.

In the ever shifting sands, Sasuke tried returning home one more time. The Chakra was formed, eyes were closed, and the hand seal was made. Focusing on the image of Konoha, he kept the image clear in his mind of how he would be standing in front of the Hokage residence.

For one final push, he said, " **Amenominaka.** "

The feeling of sand was gone, and in its place was the feeling of solid ground beneath his feet. Even with a sore left eye, the Uchiha couldn't help but sigh in relief. _'I'm home.'_ Even in this cave, he could smell the forest of the Forty-Fourth Training Grounds

Considering the light he could clearly see on one end with his black eyes, he decided to exit the cave he was teleported in, but not without thought. _'The_ _ **Amenominaka**_ _is too unstable to use without the Rinne-Sharingan.'_ It's a miracle he even found his way home again. He might have to research more into the eye before attempting it again.

He got the teleportation part right, but specifying the destination seemed to be a roll of the dice. If it was going to stay this finicky, Sasuke believed he could be just fine without it.

As he exited the cave, the Uchiha felt a rumble of the ground he was standing on, and heard a somewhat feminine scream, but it was emanating from the cave he just left. That soon became clear when a redheaded young woman was running towards him, to which he happily stepped out of her way before she ran into him.

The mystery woman ducked and rolled before leveling her sword and shield towards the cave entrance. One thing of note that Uchiha had noticed was that the rumbling hadn't stopped. If anything, it was increasing. So he put two and two together before leaping forward beside the young woman.

It proved to be a good decision on his part when the massive, black scorpion with white, bone-like armor covering it crashed through the cave entrance. Which wasn't the only peculiar thing about it, because- "Pyrrha, it's not the relic!" -a blonde young man kept yelling as he was hanging on its flailing golden stinger. "Help me!"

The Uchiha wasn't exactly sure what he was seeing, but his respect for the person immediately dropped for him as he kept screaming for help. Flailing around wasn't helping his case either.

Sasuke's eye stung as he activated his Rinnegan for one more technique. Forming the seals, he jumped closer to the large creature, and shouted as he slammed his palms to the ground, " **Earth Release: Rock Pillar Prison!** "

Several thin, earthen pillars poked out of the ground surrounding tightly against the black scorpion and limited its movements, even the tail stopped flailing. However, he knew this containment method wouldn't last long against a creature of this size.

"Get down," Sasuke ordered, but the fool was still shakily gripping the golden stinger a few feet from the ground. He couldn't kill the beast with a **Chidori** without the risk of electrocuting the fool as well. If he wasn't off the creature soon, then he was dying with it; either by electrocution or smashed by the creature he was holding onto once it breaks free.

"Jaune!" the woman called, which seemed to have snapped the now-named Jaune from his frightened stupor. "Let go of it!" He happily followed her order, and released the golden stinger, before leaping backwards with a small scream instead of keeping his face inches from the scorpion.

Before the two had a chance to even say another word, the sound of birds chirping filled the air. When they turned to the source, they saw the new guy's arm covered in pale blue electricity, sparking wildly in all directions. That very arm began zipping towards the scorpion just before jumping into the air and onto the Deathstalker through the stone pillars, piercing through the back of the white, bone-like armor and electrocuted the massive creature.

It hissed loudly as its legs contracted into itself as electricity coursed through its body and nerves. Its shaking hadn't ceased, but he cut off the **Chidori** anyway. A creature this large would need more than a derivative of an assassination technique to kill it, but he must have fried its nerves enough to put it out of commission.

The Uchiha jumped off of the twitching beast, peering his black eyes towards the only two people in the vicinity, one of them moving closer to the captured beast with a victorious smile on his face.

"Ha! Not so tough now, are you?" the blonde said. He then punched the creatures face before immediately backing off at the retaliatory hiss. "It's still alive!"

The redhead ignored her companion and turned towards the black-haired lightning-user. "Thank you for helping us," she said politely, then looked towards the ensnared Grimm. "Not many trainees could handle a Deathstalker of that size alone." She was impressed how he could trap it so quickly, and even more so when he put it out of the fight with that lightning technique of his.

"Deathstalker?" Sasuke questioned with a raised brow, to which she simply nodded. Did they name the creatures of the Forest of Death? Looking at his surroundings, this place didn't have the same vibe as before. It was usually littered with creatures even he hadn't heard of and with a foreboding atmosphere, but this place seemed rather. . . _bright_.

"Perhaps it's best we head north for the relics we were looking for, _Jaune_ ," the young woman said pointedly. The statement was directed towards the blonde teen, who looked sheepish at his nearly fatal mistake.

The Uchiha noted two names, Jaune and Pyrrha, both of which were pronounced oddly from what the usual spelling he knew. Essentially, the things adding up were far from his favor, and hoped it was only shinobi paranoia.

"C'mon, don't you want to pass initiation?" he heard 'Jaune' say suddenly, snapping him from his thoughts.

 _'So it's a type of examination?'_ Sasuke wondered. Considering their age, these two might be Chūnin or older Genin. Could it be a task by the Jōnin meant to guide them? There were a lot of 'maybe's and he wasn't happy about it, so he followed behind to ascertain things.

If the large scorpion was similar to any beast he knew, it would just leave them be and continue on with whatever it was doing.

"I don't remember seeing you from the cliffs," Pyrrha said as the Uchiha walked by the duo. She also wanted to mention how he was older than those she saw, but thought it would be rude to say.

The Uchiha was in his own world, but he heard her. "I was never at the cliffs you speak of," he replied. _'Am I even in the same continent?'_ If so, then he had a chance of getting home. The environment was certainly familiar, if perhaps a tad warmer.

"Wait, then how did you get here?" Jaune asked. "You didn't come here from Vale?"

 _'Bad luck,'_ Sasuke replied mentally. "No, I wandered into this place by accident, but it doesn't matter. I will continue on my way soon." He had no intention of staying here. Once he figured out his bearings, he would have an idea where home was and head there immediately.

The two teens looked to one another, unsure of what to make of that statement. If he wasn't here from Beacon, does that mean he stumbled in from Vale somehow? Not really possible to let people wander in to a Grimm-filled area. So if he wasn't for Beacon and wanted to leave, there was only one other answer that made sense.

She suddenly stopped and looked at the ninja. "You're from outside the walls, aren't you?" Pyrrha questioned. There was no border stopping Grimm from entering the Emerald Forest, so it was likely that this individual wandered in during initiation.

It's not like people from communities that were made beyond the protection of kingdom were rare, but how could this person make his way here from wherever he was from before? As far as Pyrrha knew, this forest bordered and was also part of Grimm-infested lands.

"I'm not from this area, nor did I reach this place from 'Vale', if that's what you're asking," Sasuke replied, stopping just steps ahead of them. "Are you going to continue leading the way, or should I?" He needed information about his surroundings, and these two at least had an idea about a point of interest.

Whether or not he would recognize it was another matter entirely.

Nodding, she continued moving forward, but not in silence. "It's just that not many people survive outside the protection of the kingdoms for long," she commented. "At least, we don't usually hear from them again, is what I mean."

If there was any evidence that he was in a different continent, it was now. Unless it was some reclusive tribe or civilization that nobody had heard of. Realistically speaking, things weren't leaning towards what Sasuke wanted.

"So you're not here for the initiation?" Jaune asked, to which Sasuke responded in the negative. "I guess the headmaster would know the authorities to send you to."

The Uchiha didn't know who this 'headmaster' was, but he would rather avoid meeting officials and leaders if possible. Last thing he needed was to be involved with people in power in a region the ninja didn't belong to.

Crossing the tree line, the three saw two people looking up into the air, a blonde and a brunette with a bow. When Sasuke followed their line of sight, which was when a scream was heard.

"Heads up!" a young girl shouted just as she crashed onto the blonde of the two. "Owww~" both girls moaned on the ground.

Of all the things the Uchiha could have seen to describe if this was his world or not, that wasn't one of them. . . Gravity seemed to be working properly, though.

"Comrades of yours?" Sasuke asked. He wasn't sure if he should label them as a threat after their _crashing_ performance earlier, but the last thing he wanted was to harm some allies of his guides.

A roar was heard from nearby, and what quickly followed was a black bear with white armor similar to the scorpion from before, but it soon fell dead just as it crossed into the open area. Then an orange-haired girl and her companion jumped of its back, one of them looking disappointed.

"Dang it, it broke," the girl said sadly.

The one with her, however, wasn't so distressed for her loss. "Never again," he demanded, but in his heart he knew it was a lost cause. " _Please_ , never again." Nope, he still didn't feel that she would listen anyway. Especially when she ran off to take a chess piece rather than listen to him.

The Uchiha was about to start questioning things, but the two impromptu guides he had were missing a person. Apparently, Jaune followed the first two's line of sight, and witnessed a white-haired girl being carried by a large raven-like creature. That was before the two from previously on the bear arrived, and now the blonde fool caught the falling white-haired girl from the bird, who now disrega-.

Long story short, Sasuke stopped thinking into it when he felt the beginning of a headache come on.

"Comrades of yours?" Sasuke repeated to Pyrrha. Just any answer was fine at the moment.

The champion looked unsure at the question. ". . . Yes," she said reluctantly, then sighed as she went to check if Jaune was okay.

Sasuke followed after her, finding himself with a group of people younger than he was, one of whom was much younger than the rest. Off to the side, he saw Pyrrha help Jaune off the ground he was smashed into by the white-themed girl. To the other side, he saw the eccentric girl from earlier dancing with the chess piece she had, the boy with her seemingly just waiting for her to stop. In front of him, the two that crashed into each other were helped up by the girl with a bow.

 _'A bunch of misfits.'_ He hoped that there were more sensible people that could help find out where he was, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

As the group were collecting themselves, a low, angry roar was heard in the distance from where the Uchiha came from, he and the others were able to hear the ferocious howl. The only creature that could be that angry and that loud from their path was obvious.

"The Deathstalker broke free," Pyrrha stated to Sasuke and turned to him. "And it's coming for you." Getting one of them angry was like painting a target on yourself, especially with ones so old. So it was best for the untrained to hide rather than fight. Fortunately, there weren't any untrained people here as far as Pyrrha was concerned. "We need to get ready to face it," she told the group.

Sasuke never heard of instinctual animals targeting specific people or prey. They either got their food, or they didn't and had to find another. Something like this, however, was unheard of, especially when he could hear the distinct sound of trees being trampled on steadily growing closer. The girl was right, it was definitely coming this way.

 _'This is not natural.'_ No wild animal outside of summons had this kind of sentience. The shinobi looked to the group, and saw that they were as human as he was; even the language was the same, so he had to be in his world. However, there were things that made him have questions that needed to be answered.

"That's not our only problem," the girl in white stated, then pointed towards the sky. "We've got a giant Nevermore also coming after us." He words were emphasized by a loud squawk as the Grimm flew overhead, which had her glare towards the youngest trainee. "I'm blaming you for this."

Just then, the large scorpion finally showed itself as it crashed through the trees, and only paused as it looked towards the group of humans in front of it. It hissed angrily as it spotted a familiar, red-eyed figure, snapping its claws threateningly at the memory.

"Maybe we should run," Jaune suggested with a gulp. "You know, strategic retreat." He was happy with the amount of holes already on his body without that stinger adding to them.

"No need," the young girl stated as she brought out her scythe. "I can handle it." She dashed forward with impressive speed, eager to prove herself in front of everyone. Especially her icy teammate. So much so that she didn't hear her sister's cry just before the young girl ran.

The Uchiha watched the weapon she brought out with interest. Even as the girl's first attack with the weapon failed, he saw with his Sharingan how she pulled the trigger of the weapon, shooting a blazingly fast piece of metal from the shaft towards the creature, but it did nothing but anger it before it began chasing after her.

A screech from up above showed the Nevermore from before heading towards the now-named Ruby. It didn't take Sasuke much to notice its intention to attack the girl, so he began running to save the girl from her own brashness.

It was new to see a bird that large dispensing its own feathers as a weapon, which was worrisome as the ninja saw it was quickly heading towards the girl. He flickered to her side, wrapped his arms around her, and jumped away before the steel-like feathers impaled either of them.

Although the Nevermore issue was temporarily away, the Deathstalker was making a beeline towards the two, until a pink explosion met its face and stopped it in its tracks with an angry hiss.

"Now!" Jaune yelled as the six with ranged weapons began pelting the side of the giant scorpion with bullets, energy bolts, and explosives to its sides, causing it to turn away from its prey in anger to shield itself from the group with its claws as it scurried closer to them.

The Uchiha didn't show it, but he was fairly surprised at the amount of firepower those six possessed from their weapons. These were vastly different from the blades the shinobis and samurai use. The bullets were faster than any arrow or crossbow bolt his home had, and doubted that could see them as clearly without his Sharingan being active.

"Um, can you let go of me now?" He looked to the girl he's holding close to his chest, and let her go to stand on her own since the danger was no longer immediate. After dusting herself, she said with a sigh, "thanks for saving me." She was disappointed that she wasn't able to show off her skills, and even more so that she needed to be saved in the end.

"Later," the Uchiha replied and brushed off her gratitude. "Your comrades are in need of assistance." The group manage to divert the creature's attention, but that doesn't mean they're killing it. If anything, they're agitating it more and more as it kept trying to kill them with its claws and stinger, but they kept dodging out of harm's way as they pelted the beast with rounds.

 _'The armor on that thing is tough,'_ Sasuke thought as he moved to help the group, drawing out Kusanagi from its sheath. Those explosives and bullets didn't even seem to be making a dent, and that called for something with extra penetrative power like the **Chidori** , but one that would certainly kill it.

Before he could take a stance, the girl behind him shouted, "the Nevemore's coming back!" Looking up, Sasuke saw the massive raven coming in to make another run on them. A new approach was needed to handle both of them.

Her shout wasn't only heard by the red-eyed ninja, however, as heads of those handling the scorpion began turning towards the sky, a few getting close calls with the stinger from the distraction.

The stinger almost hit Jaune, but a shot from the red girl altered its path and had it miss the blonde. "Get back!" Ruby shouted, just as the large bird shot more of its feathers to the large concentration of humans.

The trainees dodged out of the way and ended up running back towards where Sasuke stood, but the Deathstalker was following closely behind it with an angry roar. It skittered over the feathers that impaled the ground to get its collection of new prey.

"Shoot the eyes! For God's sake, someone shoot the eyes!" Jaune shrieked as he ran in panic, slower than the others. He didn't do much up close other than dodge, but he noticed a few small things that could've been done before the large bird came over to kill them. "Hurry!" He also noticed how he was slower than the _actual_ trained students that ran ahead of him.

With a quick nod to herself, Ruby was already in place to take another shot to redeem her previous, and nearly fatal, failure. Crescent Rose was ready, and she obliviously had the red eyes of a certain warrior on her _peculiar_ weapon.

Sasuke watched with interest as the girl aimed down the scope before she fired a shot towards one of the glowing red eyes. He saw how it hit dead on, and how the beast stumbled and staggered for the momentum it lost, before stopping still as it reeled from the pain of the second shot that hit another eye.

However, the Uchiha couldn't dwell on the weapons too much since he knew that stunning the creature wouldn't buy them too much time, especially with the flying Grimm that was setting up to make another run at them, so he had to act quickly to get rid of his guides' problem.

"We should retreat," the girl in red said, her weapon no longer making an effect as the scorpion began covering its face with its own claw, taking some time to recover from the earlier damage.

Retreat sounded like a good idea with such a severe lack of even general information, but every passing moment of them being occupied by these things were hindering a particular person's time to get answers. "Hold off the scorpion," Sasuke suddenly told the group that were reloading their weapons and preparing for a strategic retreat.

Considering their previous and short brawl with it, they had a chance to at least survive long enough so that he could take care of the 'Nevermore' before handling the 'Deathstalker', both of which were closing in on the crew of trainees. The flyer being infinitely faster than the slowly approaching, overgrown, armored insect.

Sasuke took a step forward towards the massive scorpion, a plan already forming in his mind on how to kill both of these black creatures as quickly as possible without having it kill his closest sources of information.

"Are you insane!?" the girl in white shouted as the Uchiha began stepping towards the massive insect. "We need to regroup, and approach this strategically and carefully." Her idea was sound if it was just them finding a better area to fight in.

In his opinion, _he_ was either fighting these creatures here or fighting them in some other area with a different terrain, so it made little difference to him, but it was better in this open field where Sasuke had room to move in against the Deathstalker. First of all, though, he had to get rid of the bird and remove the air superiority against him.

"Feel free to leave if you wish," the Uchiha told the girl, not stopping his march to the scorpion. He was confident that he could kill these things quickly enough and reach them before they got too far. If they were going to stay and fight, then it would be all the easier for him to find them.

"We'll help!" the girl he saved proclaimed suddenly, and ignored the incredulous look of her teammate. Sasuke didn't reply besides giving her a small shrug as he continued walking towards flier that just began turning to give another run at them.

If they were going to stay, then he might as well give them a small boost to ensure their survival.

The trainees looked towards the sudden explosion of smoke, and saw an exact copy of the newcomer standing at his side. "If you're going to fight, try to stay alive," the original said before he changed directions towards the Nevermore.

It was a little bizarre seeing two of the exact same person walking in different directions, but it certainly wasn't the time to contemplate on this as the scorpion and flier were coming towards them.

"Wait, you intend to fight the Nevermore by yourself!?" Ruby exclaimed, the clone didn't even follow him like she was expecting, but rather waiting around for them. She didn't receive a response, so she turned to her group and asked, "just who is this guy, a second year?" Now that she had a good look at him, she noticed how he was older he seemed.

"Jaune and I met him at the end of that Deathstalker's cave," Pyrrha said as she readied Miló and Akoúo̱. "All I know is that he's from outside the walls, and that I can't really just stand by and watch him face these two alone."

"Nobody said he would," Ruby stated, which had the group eye her as she readied Crescent Rose. "Can't call ourselves heroes if we can't help. Anybody wanna join me in taking on the Nevermore?" Yang excitedly raised her arm.

However, a more mature voice spoke up. "Your assistance is unneeded." The group turned to the copy who was walking towards them. "Simply hold off the scorpion until boss can come and take care of it." Boss could handle these creatures, but he wasn't so sure about this band of trainees.

Now that the clone thought about it, how did the girls in red and white get on the 'Nevermore' in the first place? Better yet, what was the point of the endeavor?

"Hey, buddy, we're not Huntsmen-in-training for nothin'," the blond brawler stated. "Besides, you're _boss_ saved my sister, and I am **not** letting that go unrepaid."

The clone shrugged. "I'm only a clone whose here to make sure none of you die foolishly," he stated. If they were going to split up, then it might be a tad more difficult for him, but then again, the original would be watching the second group. So as long as they don't get in his way, they should be fine, right?

* * *

Sasuke saw how the Deathstalker spotted him and made its way to him rather than the group. He noted again that such targeted vehemence wasn't normal to what was clearly a wild beast. Whatever region he was in, it certainly had peculiar fauna.

Hearing explosions behind him, he figured that the group were taking on the Deathstalker with their even more peculiar weapons. He continued walking towards the approaching Nevermore, ready to use clones to throw him towards it. The Rinnegan was definitely out of the question, especially with how rigorously he used it recently.

Moving through different dimensions probably wasn't light on it in the least, and how it stung when he used the earth jutsu doesn't bode well.

The Nevermore was approaching quickly, and Sasuke saw how it was prepared to launch more of its feathers at him, but things took a turn as it dodged hot metal and energy bolts. Neither of which were from him, but rather from behind him. Sasuke watched the large flier twist in the air over him to dodge the oncoming projectiles.

Looking back, he saw four of the girls firing upon the creature as it flew over them. He peered a bit closer at them with his Sharingan active, taking notice of something he overlooked. When there should be flaming Chakra coating these warriors, there was instead a haze surrounding them, as though they were emitting heat that displaced the light.

Something wasn't right, he now knew that. Sasuke hoped he was in the same continent at least.

"Stop staring, we need to move!" the girl in white shouted suddenly. "Preferably without your suicidal tendencies." Honestly, facing a Nevermore alone wasn't smart unless you knew what you were doing. This guy simply _walking_ out there to face a _flying_ Grimm head on wasn't helping her opinion of him.

"This open place is pretty bad for us to take on a Nevermore," Ruby stated to Sasuke, reloading her weapon to signify she was ready for another round. "But don't worry, we won't let you fight it alone!"

Weiss facepalmed with a groan, and glared at the newcomer through her fingers. "Look at what you did to my partner." Even this little girl knew it was a bad decision to fight it here, but she was gonna stick around anyway. Madness! And here the new guy was, walking towards them as if nothing happened.

Really, these people were more than bizarre. Whatever kind of Chakra they used was just as peculiar as their weapons. Regardless, the language and physiology were the same as his, so perhaps he was in some hidden clan or nation of some kind. With the 'walls' the redheaded girl spoke of earlier, it certainly seemed like it.

"It's coming back!" the girl with the bow exclaimed, pointing towards the Nevermore that's making a turn. "Any plans?"

"Yeah, we can all die together," the easily irritable one said as she took a stance once again with her rapier, aiming towards the Nevermore that's about to fly over the Deathstalker. Honestly, was she the only adult- "Are you seriously walking to it again!?" Sasuke then broke to a run towards the Deathstalker after he walked past her. "Oh for the love of. . ."

"Cover him!" Ruby shouted as she began shooting towards the flier. Okay, she began to doubt this guy's sanity; savior or not. But she would still help him; insane or not. . . Was that what he was thinking when he saw her take on the Deathstalker by herself? Yeesh, it seemed like such a good idea at the time.

The Uchiha kept running, ignoring the rounds and bolts that were flying over him to hit the large raven. He'll find answers about those later, but killing these two creatures was long overdue.

Looking ahead, Sasuke saw that his guides and the other two holding off the scorpion, with the blonde fool narrowly and miraculously dodging wide strikes. To the side, he saw his clone in a stance to jump in if one of them were in danger. He whistled and brought its attention to him. He gestured to the scorpion's tail, then to the Nevermore.

The clone nodded before running to it, but decided to take the time to get Jaune away from a stinger aimed downwards to his head. Fortunately, this made the clone's job easier, as it jumped away from Jaune and onto the stinger, gripping it tightly with his hands.

As he intended, the clone's legs were in the air, but his hands imbued with Chakra to make sure he stuck while the original could use him like a launching platform towards the Nevermore, added with force of the scorpion's tail to fling them upwards.

When the tail reached its lowest point a few feet in the air, the copy ran lightning down and let it course to keep the Deathstalker paralyzed until the real Sasuke got into position before he 'made flight'. He ignored the creature as it clenched in on itself and its angry roars.

Sasuke jumped, landing on the feet of his upside-down, crouching clone, ready to be shot towards the Nevermore.

"These people offered to assist, and I accepted," the clone said rather than releasing Deathstalker from his electric prison to fling the Uchiha up.

Before he could ask what he meant, Sasuke was interrupted rather loudly.

"Nora, now!" Jaune yelled.

With a disturbing, toothy smile, Sasuke saw her get her hammer into an underhand wield, spin her body a few times with the hammer going upwards while getting closer to the stinger.

Looking back to the clone, Sasuke simply stated, "I hate you." All the clone did for its defense was an upside-down shrug. He knew it was a better idea, but the concept wasn't exactly. . . _flattering_.

"Up you go!" Nora yelled, as she slammed the flat side of Magnhild on the underside of the stinger to launch the new guy in a massive pink explosion, leaving a trail of pink smoke as he flew to the Nevermore. "Good luck with your suicide mission!"

Thinking again midflight, the term 'unflattering' didn't really do Sasuke's pink situation justice. Should he kill them to remove any witnesses and the possibility of mentioning this? Particularly Jaune, who offered the idea and assistance when he found out from the clone what he intended. It was a passing thought, but a tempting one.

If Naruto heard of this, perhaps he could be convinced that it was actually lightish-red.

The Uchiha left that thought on the backburner as he quickly approached the flying Nevermore diagonally and alone, the clone having disappeared from the impact with that girl's hammer. The initial plan had changed slightly, but the result was the same.

Apparently, the creature saw them and decided to make a beeline towards this free meal. Thankfully, those bullets and energy bolts have stopped, so it was clear of one of those warriors below hitting him by accident. It opened its beak to swallow him whole, but it would only be disappointed.

Drawing Kusanagi out, Sasuke began flowing lightning Chakra through the chokutō. It wasn't the _original_ Kusanagi he had since that one was lost during the Fourth War, but this replacement was damn good and close enough to it.

Lowering the blade with the sharp side up, he waited for the creature close enough. A beam of pale blue electricity shot out of the sword causing it to extend downward, and he could tell the Nevermore began to think about this since it closed its beak, but it was too late.

The Nevermore was now too close to dodge in time. Now in position, Sasuke yelled, " **Chidori Eisō!** " And swiftly raised Kusanagi, bisecting the raven from the middle, its inertia adding to the cutting power of his blade. When the Uchiha made it all the way through, he saw something in the sky that caused him worry.

A faded and shattered moon. This wasn't his world.

 _'That's not possible.'_ These people spoke the same language and had similar physiology. The chances of finding a world that held those similar was statistically improbable. _'No, it's just fucking impossible!'_

Agitated at this new development, he turned around to take out on the Deathstalker down below. With his fall adding to his speed, Sasuke aimed his lightning imbued sword, adjusting his trajectory to pierce the overgrown insect's hard shell.

His aim proved true and stuck the back of the creature, pinning it to the ground while it was still alive and writhing. "Move away now!" he ordered loudly as he stood upon it. What time he gave for those nearby was enough, and immediately smooth, pale blue spikes made of lightning popped out of every direction.

Sasuke gripped the hilt tighter in frustration as the black creature began slowing its movements to a dead stop. This wasn't his home, was it? Surely it had to be. How else could all these similarities be explained? Statistics was on his side, but everything else wasn't so far.

Ashes filled his vision, and it confused him until what he was standing on just evaporated into nothing. _'Another thing against me.'_ Walking away from where the corpse was _supposed_ to be, he found the group gathered in the same place, most likely out of misplaced concern for him or in celebration of some kind.

When Ruby saw the guy fly towards the Nevermore, she had questioned his plan and sanity, but that certainly cleared up when he sliced it in half. And considering he had some kind of lightning sword, it was on different levels of _awesome!_ Of course, then he skewered the Deathstalker _as he was_ falling.

Yep, definitely awesome.

"Amazing!" Pyrrha shouted as she clapped her hands together. "I haven't seen such an extraordinary method for hunting Grimm." When Jaune said that they intended to launch him via Deathstalker's tail, she did have to take some time to process what he meant and if he was joking about such a bizarre plan. Thankfully, it worked out in the end.

Walking closer to the group, he was approached by the blonde girl from earlier for whatever reason, but Sasuke wasn't in the mood to even humor her. He immediately crossed her off the list of people he would ask for information when she opened up her arms for a hug.

Wrapping her arms around him, she said, "I didn't thank you for saving my sister yet." Yang picked him and gave him a crushing hug with a smile. When she looked down at him, instead of seeing black hair, she saw unkempt blonde on a bright red face. "Jaune?"

She unceremoniously dropped him on the ground, then looked around to find her sister's savior, who turned out to be in the exact same place where Jaune was supposed to be. The ones beside him jumped away slightly in surprise when they found him instead of the other blonde.

Sharingan active, he turned to the white-haired girl from before, and asked coldly, "where am I?" Extremely intricate weaponry, bizarre creatures, and a moon that wasn't his. Sasuke's patience had run out.

Weiss thought he was insane when the fool decided to simply run towards the Nevermore, even more so when he stood on the stinger so he could fly to it before cutting it in half. That was not something she would retell to anyone without some kind of video proof.

Now, that same insane and skilled fool stood in her face with regal composure and impatience. It reminded her of Winter a little bit too much. Clearing her throat, she said, "I believe some introductions are in order. I'm Weiss Sch-"

"I didn't ask for your name, only for my location. Where. Am. I?"

Weiss took a second to gawk at the rude attitude on this guy. "Excuse me? Listen, I don't know how they do it wh-Hey!" He decided to walk around her to find someone else, and gave her a glare that shut her up. Weiss backed away for now.

He wasn't in the mood to tolerate introductions when he needed answers. Hopefully, this girl with a bow would answer him appropriately. Actually, he'd make sure of it.

Noses centimeters apart, he said an even colder tone, "I will ask you questions, and you will answer them and only them. Understood?" How fast he got her to nod would have made his father proud. It even had the blonde girl from earlier to stop approaching him from behind.

"Where am I?"

"Emerald Forest for the Beacon Academy initiation," the girl replied quickly. She understood that he was from outside of the Kingdoms, but could he give her a bit of space? "Could you-"

"Where is Beacon Academy?" he pressed on, ignoring the discomfort he was causing her.

"In the Kingdom of Vale." She wanted to take a step back, but she just couldn't bring herself to do so with those red eyes on her. It felt like a demon was peering into her soul, and with how those commas were slowly spinning was only adding to that effect.

The Sharingan would tell if she was lying, but unfortunately for Sasuke, she wasn't so far. "Where is Vale?" The more he heard her answers, the more he felt concerned about his situation. _'Just any familiar answer would do.'_

"Er, south of Atlas." His face was turning more and more into that of someone who was far from pleased of his answers. Blake wasn't lying, but her answers didn't seem to be what he was hoping for.

"Where are Atlas and Vale?" The Uchiha began dreading the answer.

These questioned were certainly bizarre, so she furrowed her brows to form a reply, and answered unsurely, "err. . . on the world of Remnant?" Her answers before caused him displeasure, but that one caused him to scowl heavily. Clearly, that last one wasn't something he wanted to hear. Honestly, what was he expecting?

Sasuke brought his hand up to his face, took a deep, calming breath, and exhaled slowly. Now with a calm expression, he turned his black eyes towards the group. "You will take me to this Beacon Academy, yes?" It was more of an order than a request.

"Sure!" Ruby said happily. "Just give us a moment to get our relics."

The Uchiha merely nodded, and waited around for them to finish up whatever it is they needed. He considered using the Rinnegan at the nearest convenience to find his home, but the **Amenominaka** might just send him in an endless loop of worlds that he couldn't survive in until his Rinnegan stopped working.

Ruby waved him over, and he began walking with them in silent and irritated contemplation on what to do. It was clear he needed to head home, and it was clearer that using the **Amenominaka** was too big of risk to rely on.

"If you want to say something, then out with it, girl," he said abruptly as he noticed the youngest hesitate when she tried to approach him a couple of times. In fact, a few of them seemed like they wanted to say something, but they must have noticed his irritation and steered clear.

He appreciated the solitude to think, but this girl's obvious hesitance and visible backtracking was becoming overly pitiable.

"Oh, err. . ." the girl said with slight embarrassment of being caught. "I wanted to thank you again for saving me." He accepted her gratitude with a nod, but she wasn't done, it seemed. "I'm Ruby, by the way. Ruby Rose. What's yours?"

Social interaction. _Yay_. . .

Even after the massacre, the Uchiha name still carried weight throughout the continent, so he had to be wary of who introduces himself to from time to time. Not that being Konoha's number one traitor for a while helped ease the infamy. "Sasuke Uchiha," he replied.

Then again, he wasn't in a world where that very infamy was present. Proof of that lack of infamy was when the blonde who tried to hug him approached him after the younger girl had her talk.

"I'm Yang Xiao-Long," she greeted. "I also want to thank you for saving my sister. Though could you tell me how I hugged Jaune instead of you?" Her sister? Sasuke doesn't remember saving anyone that looked like her recently. She must have noticed his confusion because she continued. "Ruby's my sister. Same dad, different mom. Now about switching with Jau-"

She was interrupted when the orange haired girl from earlier appeared. "And I'm Nora. If you want someone to launch you up in the sky again, you can count on me," she stated with a wide, proud smile.

Sasuke would make sure to avoid such circumstances at every opportunity.

"And this is Ren," Nora said as she dragged in her companion, who looked like he was _too_ used to this kind of behavior. "We came here together. But we're not together-together, because that would be weird since we were friends since we were kids."

Looking at the poor boy, Sasuke asked, "how?" Quiet mentality and loud boisterousness mixing well didn't really make sense. Hell, he was in a similar boat and he still wasn't completely sure how it worked.

He knew from the beginning that Sasuke was similar to him where peace and quiet were preferred, but there was really only one quick answer to his question. "You get used to it," Ren replied with a shrug. There was more to it, but there wasn't enough time in the world to explain.

That response made the corner of Sasuke's lip twitch just a small bit. He couldn't help but think that there was more truth to that than Ren thought.

"So you're from outside the kingdoms?" Sasuke looked back to see who asked that question. It was the girl in black he 'questioned'.

"What if I am?" he replied without stopping his walk. Was it some kind of taboo in this world, or perhaps some sign for barbarism? He wasn't sure.

Weiss Sch-something was the one who answered. "It's just that Grimm infest everything outside the walls, making living out there extremely difficult, if not just plain suicide."

Well, that was new information about the geography of this world. Definitely not something that his own world possessed. "Grimm? Was it one of those beasts I killed?" Was Grimm one thing, or a collective of creatures? The more he heard these terms, the more he hated not knowing.

"Are you serious?" Weiss said in disbelief. " _Of course_ it was those things! Please tell me that you just have a different name for them rather than living in a cave." In which case he would still find them. "Are you not trained to kill them like a Huntsmen? You must know at least these sim-" She fell face-first to the dirt suddenly.

"Weiss, are you okay!?" Ruby shouted in worry, picking her up to see if she was okay. "Huh?" Was she seriously so tired that she began sleeping in the middle of the forest? Princesses don't seem to have much stamina it seemed.

"You're comrade will awaken within an hour," the Uchiha said as he deactivated his Sharingan. It may have paused the march for a little while, but he didn't have the patience to humor her condescending lecture.

Naruto gave him enough lectures for ten lifetimes, and that was before, during, and after their fights to the death.

Clearly, it sparked interest as now Pyrrha began asking. "I've never seen someone with such a different ability set. What is your Semblance exactly?" Asking such things is normally between friends and comrades, but Sasuke displayed different abilities that aren't linked with one another.

"You used an earth technique against the Deathstalker, but then used lightning directly from your hand, so I assumed you used earth Dust before," she began, which had the others listen intently to the short history with the new guy. "Then I saw you used a clone, and now making people pass out. Forgive me, but I can't wrap my head around what your Semblance might be."

Her 'question' explained three things to the Uchiha. One, having a diversity of abilities seem to be rather uncommon for the average denizen of this world. Two, this 'Semblance' was heavily related to said abilities. Three, dust had elemental properties here. . . Okay, why not?

Thinking of a response that wasn't 'I'm from another world that's populated by assassins', Sasuke replied, "I don't know what some of those words mean. I believe certain words that you mentioned are different from mine." Playing dumb, he hated it as much as _actually_ lacking information.

Looking towards the students gathered around the sleeping heiress, Sasuke remembered the haze that coated them rather than Chakra. It would make somewhat sense that there would be some form of energy surrounding them like him, but perhaps not _exactly_ like him. He'd make sure to look into it further if it turned out that he'll have to stay here for a while.

"So you have different words for such things as Aura, Grimm, Semblance, and Dust?" Blake asked suspiciously with a frown. Sasuke shrugged, he didn't know what those words meant here. In his world, they don't mean anything worthwhile as they're making it out to be.

He looked to Pyrrha for an explanation, and she understood what his stare meant. "Aura is the energy we use as Huntsmen to fight the soulless creatures of Grimm, and the two you killed were among the variety of their kind," she explained in a textbook manner. "We use our special ability, our Semblance which is unique to each person, to augment our capabilities to fight them. Dust is the material we use to call upon the elements to power everyday needs, but also to augment our weapons to kill Grimm."

Sasuke took a moment process the information he was just given. _'There are similarities between Aura and Chakra, Semblance and the bloodline limit, but the rest are alien to me.'_ There was nothing of his world that could be compared with this 'Dust' she was talking about, and Grimm's only counterpart would be the Bijuu, but that's like comparing a series of crumbs to loaves of bread.

Looking to Ruby and people around her, he said demandingly, "someone pick her up so we can continue." Of course, it was Jaune who decided to give Weiss a piggyback ride before they continued on their way.

Well, Grimm didn't have any energy he could see when he looked to them with the Sharingan, perhaps it has to do with the 'soulless' remark that Pyrrha mentioned. The Rinnegan might help identify these things a bit more properly.

 _'It's best I don't use that too much around here,'_ Sasuke thought. The last thing he needed to be was some power tool for someone when they saw him use the Rinnegan. Thinking about it some more, it would best he didn't display too much of his abilities. He knew the Jinchūriki's purpose, and the last thing he needed to be was a weapon to be used by someone or some nation while he searched for a way home.

Or more specifically, someone's dream weapon, because there was no way in hell would Sasuke freely allow anyone to force him to do their bidding.

"You didn't answer my question," Pyrrha followed up. "Forgive me for pressing, but what you had shown is very unusual." She could assume the lightning and earth techniques he used were from Dust, which certainly explains it, but cloning and making people pass out wasn't applicable to Dust.

If she was gonna ask, then chances were someone else would ask as well, so Sasuke needed something convincing to get them off his back on the matter. "It is as you said," he began. "The earth technique was when I used earth Dust, but the lightning was using my Aura which has an electric nature." Only the second bit wasn't _entirely_ a lie. "My Semblance is the ability to make clones; however, to make people pass out is an ability passed down my family."

It wasn't technically a lie to say that either. The Sharingan was an ability only passed down by the Uchiha clan, but clones were more Naruto's special ability than his own. Regardless, it was enough to make Pyrrha nod with content for his answer, if perhaps only reluctantly accepting it.

"What of making your eyes red?" Again, it was the girl with the black bow. She probably wasn't happy to be interrogated like that, especially with red eyes staring into her own. She must have noticed how his current eyes were black, but when in battle they were red.

The response for that was an easy and simple one the Uchiha had thought of beforehand. "My eyes simply turn red when I become agitated or excited, usually during battle." If there was any chance of an Orochimaru-like person in this world, he would rather not have the word out about the capabilities of his eyes.

Yang seemed to have found something interesting about that. "Huh, the same thing happens with me. So we might be related, eh?" That was thankfully impossible. "Don't look so annoyed at the idea!" He thought he hid his frown well. "And what about the when I hugged Jaune instead of you?" Arc coughed at the soft yet firm memory.

"It's gotta be speed, right?" Ruby thought out loud, and got a nod from the ninja. "Told you so." She wasn't wrong, but it was a bit more intricate than that.

"I put my arms around him before he turned into Jaune, I don't think 'speed' explains it." Yang then looked to the Sasuke. "Fess up, how'd you do it?"

Blondes, there had to be something genetic that made them stubborn. Since it worked somewhat back home, the Uchiha just ignored her and continued walking in the direction they were leading him in. He even ignored her oath to squeeze it out of him later on.

They weren't attacked by the same creatures Sasuke killed, or any for that matter. It helped them reach the top of the cliffs quicker, and it certainly got him closer to the castle-like building he saw in the distance. And he had to admit, it was certainly a marvel up close.

Looking towards the route he was being lead, Sasuke saw two people that seemed have been waiting for them, or just the company he was with, anyway. The closer they got, the clearer he could see who was waiting for them. A man in a green suit with silver hair, and a blonde woman with a vibe similar to Lady Tsunade's assistant.

"Congratulations to the eight of you," the man said, clearly indicating who he meant. "You have passed the initiation and are now students of Beacon." Sasuke wondered if that was regardless of his intervention or not. It didn't seem to matter to the new initiates as they cheered for their victory. Weiss not so much as she was still asleep.

"As for you, Mr. Uchiha," began the blonde woman. "You will come with us."

That wasn't a statement he expected to hear. "You know my name?" he asked, a little hopeful. Was he wrong and that this was actually his world? He hoped so. A shattered moon wasn't something he could miss, unless the situation Naruto solved had done something to it abruptly without him knowing.

"We have cameras in the forest and picked up your name from the feeds." There goes that shimmer of hope. The blonde turned to the students and said, "all of you are to go in and prepare yourselves. In the meantime, Mr. Uchiha will be coming with us to discuss his situation."

At least he wouldn't have to explain his lies again. He accepted Ruby's welcome and everyone else's best wishes before they left to one of nearby buildings of Beacon, leaving him alone at the clifftop.

Looking towards the two adults, Sasuke said, "lead the way, and I will follow." The green one nodded and gestured for the Uchiha to follow behind as he and the woman began walking to one of the larger buildings.

Sasuke took the opportunity to see his surroundings, and he had to admit, the architecture of this world surpassed his home in leaps and bounds. Unless Beacon had a weapon made to destroy villages, then not even the castle of Sora no Kuni when it was operable could match it in design.

"Is this your first time seeing a building like this?" the blonde woman asked as they walked through the halls. It wasn't in a prideful way, but more out of curiosity of how this new person seem to be taking in the sights.

"Somewhat," Sasuke answered curtly. The castle of Sora no Kuni was rather dilapidated when he last walked within it, but he could tell it was extravagant during its prime. Even then, he doubted it was at the level of Beacon. "The design is certainly new to me, however."

The sparse amount of people around him had only respect to the two in front of him, and a curious glance or two to him. Sasuke assumed these two were respected 'Huntsmen' as well as faculty of this institution, and that was a common occurrence even when they reached an elevator. It had lead them rather high considering the time it took them to reach what Sasuke assumed to be the last floor.

Sasuke wasn't a stranger to machines, even if he wasn't adept in how they work, he understood and seen enough to understand certain things. That being said, he couldn't help but think all the gears were just for show rather than practicality. It was certainly an interesting sight though, showing more machinations that this world seemed to be fond of.

"Coffee?" Sasuke looked back to the man and shook his head. The man shrugged and poured the brown liquid into his mug before taking a seat behind a desk. "Let's get introductions out of the way. I'm Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy," he stated, and then gestured to the woman that walked up beside him. "This is Glynda Goodwitch, one of the teachers here and a personal friend of mine." Sasuke nodded in greeting to her, to which she returned.

"Let me get to the point," Ozpin continued. "While finding people from outside the kingdoms isn't unheard of, it is bizarre to know that they would be oblivious to the kingdoms themselves." Blake Belladonna was an example of someone outside the kingdoms and knew the common knowledge they knew.

"I doubt you've heard of mine either," Sasuke replied. At Ozpins quirked brow, he knew he was meant to explain that. Not that he would _truly_ explain what he meant. "My village wasn't proactive in finding new nations outside its own walls, for reasons even I don't know, even now I wonder what the elders had in mind." He added the last bit when he saw the look on the headmaster's face.

Sharing information of his nation to another, an action done by traitors. However, that wasn't the reason the Uchiha was staying quiet about it, even though his inner, returned ninja-loyalty to Konoha kept telling him to remain silent. The real reason was that he needed to iron out details to make a story believable without loopholes.

"How can we know that you weren't brought here to fool us?" Glynda voiced out. There were valid reasons to be wary of outsiders after what happened to Amber, and she knew Ozpin was well aware of this.

"Would telling you a story help if you should be wary of me or not?" Sasuke hoped that it was the case, if only to make things easier for him. "You don't have to concern yourselves. I will leave immediately." He needed to find somewhere to rest and recover his Chakra. Jumping between dimensions haven't been kind to his reserves.

"What if I said you didn't have to leave?" Ozpin said, leaning forward onto his desk. "What if I said you exhibited skills that I find interesting?"

 _'You wouldn't be the first,'_ Sasuke thought. "If you're expecting me to be some soldier for you, it's best you think otherwise." Unbelievable. Even in a different dimension, someone still wanted his power. He probably should get used to it by now.

But Ozpin continued, "forgive me for my tone, that wasn't what I meant." The look on the ninja's face had shown what he thought about his apology. "I understand trust is not something given out freely, something that seems we both believe."

Ah, Ozpin didn't trust him that way, but was indeed actually interested in his talents, Sasuke mused. He nodded in understanding and agreement of the headmaster's statement, but did wonder what this man was leading up to.

"However, something happened somewhat recently that made us a little desperate, but also very wary," Ozpin said. Sasuke didn't know what happened, since he was 'off-world' at the time, but he understood the sentiment of being in a bind.

"So you are interested in my skills, but cautious if I'm one of the people that caused the event you spoke of." It wasn't a question, but the older man nodded anyway. "You would be foolish if you allowed me closer to your people, then." The way they both rose their brows showed that they were caught by surprise at the blunt statement.

The Uchiha wasn't involved in harming these people nor did he want to, but they didn't know that, and he would rather not be put under heavy surveillance simply because they were wary of him when he was searching for a way home. It would be best if he did so as discretely as possible during his stay in this world.

Ozpin tilted his head. "If you're a spy, you're a terrible one." He smirked at that, even Sasuke did so lightly but for an entirely different reason. "Now what to do with you? Usually I would hand you to the authorities where you would get adjusted to our laws."

That was far from what Sasuke needed, and it seemed to show on his face, because Ozpin said, "but I would like to see your capabilities for myself, first."

"I will not be your pawn," the ninja sneered, activating his Sharingan in preparation for anything. Being 'adjusted' by whatever government body here was out of the question, and being turned into someone's underling was just as undesirable.

The headmaster waived his arms placidly. "That wasn't my intention, Mr. Uchiha," he quickly said. "Considering you have particular talents, I was hoping to convince you to join us in our fight against Grimm rather than handing you over to the council's men."

With his eyes still active, Sasuke asked, "what do you want that you would even consider recruiting a stranger into your fold?" Ozpin was speaking the truth about convincing him to join his fight, but even then that still wasn't enough for him to trust them or throw himself with their lot.

"Now I'm not _recruiting_ you, Mr. Uchiha," Ozpin retorted. "I just want to see your capabilities benefit the realm of men." Again, he wasn't lying, but it wasn't a solid answer. "Sit with the students here, learn what they learn, and understand what the purpose of a Huntsman is. _That_ is what I want." This guy knew how to choose words carefully. Just like a politician, and that was reason to be wary. "If you do not find it suitable, I will not stop you from leaving Beacon."

That last one was enticing. "I will not be some student for you to teach," Sasuke said, but without the heat from previously. "I am not some child who needs to be tutored, and I don't intend to be under the thumb of any of your teachers." The Uchiha wasn't some young amateur warrior who had much to learn, he was a veteran of war with skills and abilities rivaled by few.

Being a student was probably a method to keep some form of eye on Sasuke, and being treated as a student wasn't simply just an inconvenience. But perhaps there was more to get closer to what he needed. He didn't doubt that the headmaster's mind was conflicted with a choice between safety and opportunity.

Sasuke could use his genjutsu to _ease_ him into the right decision, but this world meant new laws, and he wasn't sure how and if the technique would work on someone who uses this 'Aura' instead of Chakra. And since this person had to be a powerful Huntsmen if he became a headmaster, there was no guarantee it would go unnoticed. Hell, it was even a gamble to make Weiss pass out.

"There are things you aren't telling me," Ozpin stated. "It would be difficult for me to accept someone who won't even explain himself, even if it was someone who showed skill in the forest."

Now it was Sasuke's turn to raise a brow. "You aren't any different," he stated. "You are a person that holds power, and those people tend to hide things more than most, lest enemies discover them and make you vulnerable." It was always best to have an ace up your sleeve, even from friends. "You are not wrong. I hold secrets, even my origins will be a secret, more so because I don't trust you, and I don't expect you to trust me either."

Trusting a ninja? A fatal mistake made by many, but in this case it was different. This man knew how powerful secrets were, Sasuke could tell that much from the way he spoke earlier. Give the opponent information, then you give them power over you.

"So you won't tell me anything?" the headmaster asked.

"Not at this time," Sasuke said with a shake of his head. Perhaps in a few days when he worked out a work of fiction that would have made a certain dead Sannin proud. Then again, Jiraya wasn't exactly someone to aspire to in creative writing, so that bar was rather low.

"You're not making this easy for me."

"My trust was never easily gained to begin with, and I refuse to give someone control over my movements." A ninja being trustworthy of others at first glance? How laughable. Those don't tend to survive for very long, even after the fourth war.

"Is it possible that we wan we continue this conversation tomorrow?" Sasuke asked, cutting off whatever retort Ozpin had to say. "If possible, I would like to spend a day here to rest. I have grown weary from my travels." That was the only truth he would tell the headmaster.

His Chakra was lower than he liked in a place that may not welcome him thanks to all the dimension hopping, and the fact he had to search for a way home wasn't making things easier. There was no way the **Amenominaka** was a viable option. He was lucky enough to be in a world with breathable air.

The headmaster looked towards Glynda for her opinion on things, but all she did was sigh and gave a short nod. Sasuke assumed they would keep him under watch for at least one day to make sure he wasn't doing anything malicious until an agreement had been made. He didn't care as long as there's a bed involved.

"We will host you for the day. Professor Goodwitch will handle things from here. For now, I have several things to announce," Ozpin said as he stood up from his seat. "Until next time, Mr. Uchiha." With that, he walked out of the office onto the elevator.

Looking towards the woman, she opened one of the drawers of the desk, and pulled out what might have been a phone if it was only made of glass. Sasuke had seen cellphones being a trend for the younger ninjas, but he didn't partake much of it during his travels. Naruto was talking him into taking one with him before he 'arrived' on Remnant.

"Have you handled a Scroll before?" Glynda asked as she held the device out to him.

Sasuke had handled scrolls many times before, but he doubted it was the same kind as the one she was thinking of. "Sparsely. I wasn't one for new technology," he replied as he took the pho- _Scroll_ from her. He was fascinated in how it was fully transparent, but also had a display of things like phones from his home.

"I will be sending the code for it to be the key to your room," she explained, tapping on her own larger version of the Scroll. That was definitely _not_ one of the functions the cellphones from the Uchiha's world had.

The one in his hand beeped, showing an exclamation mark to notify him of something. He looked back to the blonde professor for further details, but she only sighed slightly at the realization what 'sparsely' entailed. Sasuke could tell she was thinking the same he was. _'This is going to take a while. . .'_

* * *

 **Quick note, chapters 2, 3, and 4 will be single perspective, as will most new chapters starting with 16. What can I say? I learned shit during the gap, and it feels** _ **wrong**_ **not to. I blame** **Coeur Al-Aran** **, his mastery really changed how I should write a good story (or acceptable at best in my case).**

 **Trivia:**

 **1-This story was meant to be called 'A Crow's Plight', but** **ShadowofheartsXIII** **informed me that crows were Itachi's thing. Another candidate for a title for the story was 'Shinobi Vs Hunters', as a reference to RvB, but I didn't like it enough to go through with it.**

 **2-I took my writing style from reading different, amazing stories and it just sunk in. As a tip to most aspiring authors on FF, do the same I did and simply read stories (I emulated the trivia bit since I enjoyed it, and thought some of you may as well). You're set in the terms of mechanics for writing, but the plot and how it goes is** **completely** **up to you.**

 **3-Only when I started re-writing the first chapter did I see similarities between AHP and the tale of Alice in Wonderland. Kinda suits with RWBY's theme if you think about it. Now if only I could have Sasuke wear a poufy, blue dress with a white apron. . .**

 **Next chapter is ready for you to read at your leisure!**


	2. She'll Sting You One Day Ever So Gently

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 **Chapter 2 Dos-Point-Oh!**

 **I have little doubt that some of you are displeased that Sasuke is now married to Sakura, but I have my reasons. I understand that a lot of people hate Sakura and even Karin, but I don't hate characters at all, and I mean in every series out there (except Sekirei, fuck that garbage). Either way, just trust me a little bit.**

 **New writing style, expect this kind starting from chapter 16 and onward!**

* * *

 **There Are Reasons The Updates Were Late; I Was Playing So Many Things On My New PS4, Mate!**

* * *

 **Chapter Two: She'll Sting You One Day Ever So Gently**

Sasuke awoke calmly in a dark room, lit only by the moonlight peering through the window, thinking all that passed was only a dream, but looking out that very window told him otherwise. That damn shattered moon was in the sky told him what the truth of his situation was.

He stayed lying down, letting out a frustrated breath. Looking to the side, he picked up the Scroll he was given by Glynda and held it over his face. It was almost three in the morning, he had been asleep for well over half a day. He didn't forget that he flopped on the bed immediately after that blonde teacher guided him to his room after she instructed him how to use basic functions of the Scroll.

The fact he was that tired said much about the risk posed by using the **Amenominaka** as a way to get home. _'I'm lucky enough to find a world with breathable air.'_ A multiverse was _not_ something he was willing to explore.

The Uchiha got off the bed, feeling rested but no less stressed. He wanted to summon a snake to inform his home, but that would come later. Perhaps it was because of his curiosity and his time wandering around, but he was interested in seeing what this whole new world had before he began finding a way home.

' _There's no point in staying in the room,'_ he thought as he got up and walked out into the empty and dark hallway, with the blade he refused to hand over on his belt. He had a destination in mind before he even left the room, the library was the best choice to find information of his immediate surroundings.

But before he could begin his walk there, he noticed a figure in the dark, and assumed that this portly and mustached man was the headmaster's method of keeping an eye on him for the night. This person sat on a chair silently, eyes closed but he didn't doubt the man was fully aware and alert of his sur- _**Snore**_ _ **!**_

". . ."

Sasuke continued on his way passed the loudly sleeping man, feeling underwhelmed at the sight and sounds he just experienced. That wasn't the thing he expected to first see when he woke up.

Looking around, the academy's hallways were empty besides himself. The perks of waking up during a time where everyone was asleep. He could use the time and silence to think things through as he made his way to the library thanks to the directions Glynda had given him the other day.

Surveillance cameras were found here and there, those were the only eyes Sasuke found on him from his walk when he reached the library. And just as he expected, it was as empty as the hallways, but not as dark with the few lights that there were. It was enough, though, as he began searching the shelves for anything that has to do with the history and general knowledge of Remnant.

The Uchiha found a few promising books judging from the titles, and brought them to an empty table. He knew he would need more books, so took note of other books he would read up once he finished with the first haul.

 _'Interesting,'_ he thought as he began reading his first book. Apparently, this 'Dust' wasn't the same dust he was thinking of. It was even more fascinating to know that his own world was devoid of such element-based materials and ore. Perhaps he should bring back one or two stones to see if it could be synthesized. Orochimaru would appreciate a pet project, that's for sure.

That wasn't only that caught the ninja's interest, however. To think that there was only four major kingdoms and a few settlements here and there wasn't exactly _unfamiliar_. It reminded him of the five great nations and the surrounding smaller villages, but on Remnant it was for vastly different reasons.

Settlements were made out of necessity with the walls of the Kingdoms being unable to expand their borders thanks to these Grimm creatures, and even a few that seemed to have problem living within the kingdom themselves, but only a few were lucky enough to last as long as they did. Patch being one example, but it was near enough to Vale to be protected. Many weren't so fortunate.

Of all the information he had gathered from the books, Grimm was in almost every single one. Dust was needed to power up the nations, but also to fight Grimm. The walls of the kingdoms were made to stave off Grimm. Huntsmen trained at a young age to protect the people from Grimm.

There wasn't a book that at least mentioned their accursed existence and the terror they reaped on mankind. _'Such creatures would bring havoc in the Elemental Nations.'_ The fact they were attracted to negative emotions such as despair and anger, they would have brought chaos to the previously war-torn continent of his home.

Sasuke could imagine Grimm coming in like a tsunami against every village, big and small. But like in this world, he didn't doubt that the people back home would fight tooth and nail for survival. Perhaps ninjas would have fared better, considering the diversity of abilities, but during a time of war and disunity, the horde of Grimm would be no easy task regardless of power.

" _Ahem_." The Uchiha looked up from his book and saw a man with green hair and glasses looking down at him. "Sasuke Uchiha, I assume?" he asked before taking a swig from his metal thermos.

"I am," Sasuke replied, laying the book about the history of the Great War back down. "I assume you are one of the professors here." Not that it was hard to figure out when he looked much older than the rest.

" _Doctor_ , actually," the man corrected. "Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck. I mostly teach history here in the academy."

The Uchiha considered asking him some questions he had after reading all those books. "And keeping an eye on me for the sake of the headmaster as well?"

"No, that was Peter's job." Bartholomew's disappointed shake of the head told Sasuke _exactly_ who Peter was. "A strong Huntsman for sure, but perhaps too boisterous for his own good."

"I can imagine," Sasuke replied with a scoff, remembering the sleeping man. "Is there a reason you interrupted me from my reading, or did you simply come here to change what I think about your colleague?"

The man took another quick sip of his coffee. "Actually, I was wondering about your homeland and how it would have existed," the Doctor said in muted excitement. The fact he was shaking made the ninja wonder if caffeine was all that was in his coffee. Was a surviving village that rare? "If you've read all these books, then I'm sure you could understand my curiosity."

He wasn't wrong, Sasuke fully understood his curiosity if he was a scholar, but his answer to such a question was the same. "If you've spoken with the headmaster, then you know what my response will be." Oobleck nodded. "Yet you still approached me, why?"

"You'd be surprised how much you can know from simply conversing in person, whether they tell their secrets or not," the professor replied with a small smile as he took a good long look at the books on the table, even sifting through a few. Sasuke wasn't sure what he learned from this chat, but he knew that it wasn't anything compromising. "I hope to learn more of your home from you in the future."

"My decision is still the same," Sasuke assured with pursed lips, not appreciating the assumption. "I will _not_ be some student here, doctor."

"I never said you would." The way he said it was odd. "But chatting doesn't necessarily mean simply at the school, and I'm very curious on how your home survived for so long."

"It hasn't." Oobleck's frown showed that he understood. "Hence why I'm here reading common knowledge like a damn child instead of walking with my comrades. Don't find the survival of my village fascinating, doctor, because it clearly isn't the case." That's the story he was going with anyway.

The professor hummed. "I'm sorry to hear that, but clearly your village was unique to be hidden even from the Kingdoms, and I would rather not let it go down in history forgotten, if you'd allow me, that is." A historian who's asking for the story of a destroyed village for it to be remembered and not be dust in the wind. He can't hate him for that, but again, the answer was still the same.

"My village is. . . _was_ extremely secretive, doctor," Sasuke said with a faux slip. "I ask that you at least wait until I feel comfortable sharing things that would normally brand me traitor in my own home."

The Bartholomew nodded slowly in understanding and patience, which was an odd juxtaposition to his fast speech. "Who knows, perhaps you would tell me that story during your stay in Beacon, eh?" He looked to his watch. "I have a class to teach, so let's speak again, soon," he said, then sped off out of the library.

Sasuke frowned slightly at the veiled statement. He felt someone here has deciding something about him and were keeping him in the dark. Considering how many people knew him in this world _and_ had some form of power, he had an educated guess who, and would make sure to know what the decision was.

He let out a breath of frustration. _'In one way or another, I will know.'_ He and Ozpin intended to speak anyway, so perhaps it was his decision that had been made. It was best not to let it agitate him, so the Uchiha continued reading his books.

In the coming hours, he knew he would be called to the headmaster's office, but Sasuke hoped it was sooner, as more students began filing in as time went on. That wasn't what bothered him, of course; it was the eyes of curious young women that decided to take seats close to him. He wondered if any of them came here to read, because he had to glare away one girl who asked to take a photograph with him, which seemed to have spawned a kind of betting pool soon afterwards and now even more daring students.

 _'Damn the Uchiha curse.'_ These people didn't even know him, yet he already started attracting them like flies. Here came another one now, and it was one of the Faunus he had been reading about, a rabbit Faunus to boot. "If you so much as point your Scroll's camera at me, you will lose it along with several of your fingers," he growled out.

The girl froze. "I-I'm sorry!" she cried after she leapt back at the sudden hostility. "I-I'm here to tell you that the headmaster wishes to see you." Well, that wasn't what he expected, particularly the odd accent.

The Uchiha looked to the Scroll he was given to know that it was nearly noon. He then looked back to the girl with less heat, she was still there and seemed to be waiting for him, if a more than a little disheartened at his response. "The fact you're still here means that you are to lead the way, correct?" She nodded reluctantly.

What the headmaster was thinking of, Sasuke had no idea. He had the Scroll and could have been contacted from there; he even knew the way. Was this an attempt to show him some added respect by being escorted? If so, then Ozpin should have come to him personally.

"Fine," the Uchiha said as he got up from his chair, finally taking a good look at his surroundings. As expected, his part of the library was _suspiciously_ more crowded than the rest. "Lead the way." She nodded, turned around, and paled at the sight of jealous eyes wishing her nothing but a slow death.

He couldn't help but sigh as the girl stayed frozen for a few seconds trying to find a way out of this. "I have important matters to discuss with Ozpin, so let's go," he told the Faunus. She cleared her throat before saying a stiff 'o-of course', and began rigidly walking to the exit. She seemed to be handling it rather well, but she still veered away from tables and people that were better off distanced.

The Faunus let out a large breath of relief now that the dark miasma that was the library was behind closed doors. "This way," she said as she went the _opposite_ direction of where they should be going. The Uchiha didn't move, he just stood there. When she turned around and saw that he was in the same spot, she asked, "umm, is there a problem?'

"We are going this way," Sasuke replied, and turned to the quickest way to the office, and began his walk there. Considering what the matter was, he didn't want to waste time.

"Wait up!" she yelled, catching up to him. "That way has more things to show, though."

That explained it. "Was it Ozpin himself who sent you to fetch me?" She answered the affirmative. Really, couldn't he have tried better than that? "I don't intend to go through the scenic route," the Uchiha said as he continued to march, the girl awkwardly by his side, now that she was being led instead of the other way around.

He gained a few curious eyes from time to time, most likely from hearing of a newcomer from outside the kingdoms, but not from any of the known settlements. "I assume people here heard of me?" The trainees he met in the forest came to mind as a source.

"Kind of," the Faunus said. "I only just heard about you from some students before the headmaster called for me, and then I just started hearing more rumors on the way to you." The Uchiha nodded in understanding. They could know the story he fabricated, he didn't mind, but the further rumors spread, the more convoluted and changed they become. "You don't come from a place that eats Faunus, r-right?"

His eye twitched.

Convoluted and changed like that. And within less than a day? In some ways it was impressive, but mostly irritating.

"No, and it would be best you forget whatever nonsense you've heard," he replied. He wasn't sure what's more annoying; that the rumors were becoming that bizarre, or people like this girl having some belief in them.

Looking to his side, he watched the girl's rabbit ears sway as she walked. He couldn't help but feel a small sense of irony that the first Faunus he met was a rabbit Faunus, with the whole debacle with the rabbit goddess years ago. _'Naruto would feel right as home here,'_ he thought amusedly, imagining him with his whisker-like birthmarks walking among these Faunus people.

"Is something wrong?" the Faunus asked warily, noticing his stare and expanded the distance between them.

Shaking his head, Sasuke replied as he looked back forward, "no, just lost myself in my thoughts." That hadn't provided much comfort, probably from the earlier rumor about him eating Faunus.

The books he took out hadn't much to say about the Faunus race, but it did say a few advantages they had thanks to their more bestial heritage. Could they have been a byproduct of some experiment to fight Grimm long ago and lost through the annals of history? Sasuke didn't know; unless Orochimaru was here, if that was the case he _definitely_ knew. Even so, he could damn well name people from his home world that were more bizarre. Kisame, Kabuto, Sakon and Ukon just to name a few.

"We're here," the girl replied, steps away from the elevator that reaches the office. "I guess this is goodbye, then. It was nice meeting you." She turned around and walked away at his curt nod.

Sasuke didn't believe she meant the last statement very much, but at least she was polite about it. He hadn't given it further thought as stood in the elevator leading him up. A student's life here, that's what Ozpin essentially asked of that girl to show him.

People who were training to be fulfilling and altruistically heroic Huntsmen, as if seeing such would change Sasuke's demands. The books he read on Huntsmen were plentiful, but most said the same story. Heroes and the glory they had garnered, that's how they were described, and that was how their actions were emphasized.

Lies, all of them. Exaggerations at best.

Those books reminded Sasuke of his academy days, the instructor retelling the heroic sacrifice stories from ninjas of Konoha while fighting off ninjas from Iwa and Kumo during the previous war. Such was the method of instilling pride and loyalty at an early age.

Once one gets on the battlefield, the image of heroes for ninjas who used to be those very students become muddled in blood and steel, as war always had done. If ninjas survived, they continue to the next battlefield. When they died, they become heroes for the young ones to look up to. Rinse and repeat.

Did Sasuke think this as an evil act? He wasn't so childish as to label it as such. It was merely one kunai of many; another tool utilized for generations by all ninja villages to get their objectives done, nothing more and nothing less.

On Remnant, that was an even more _dire_ necessity.

"Hello again, Mr. Uchiha." Ozpin's voice snapped him out of his thoughts as the elevator doors opened. "I was hoping to meet you later, but it seems you didn't accept Miss Velvet's route."

"Another time perhaps," Sasuke replied as he walked in, the two of them alone in the office. "When I'm not under the threat of eviction, I will see this academy my own way without an attempt by you to 'marvel' me into submission."

Ozpin sighed and shrugged. "I guess it was too blunt, but in my defense I didn't have much time to plan." He almost sounded sheepish. "I've thought about it a lot, what to do with you," he said in a tone befitting for an interview. "I want you to leave the premises immediately." Sasuke sighed, but nodded and turned to leave. "Is what I would have said if I didn't know you used the library for the entire morning."

The Uchiha stopped midstep, and turned back to the man. "You're convinced that I'm not a threat?" He had only rudimentary knowledge on a few aspects of Remnant, so he could almost make his way around, but if Ozpin was convinced, things would be that much easier for him.

"People who know how to fight but have unknown allegiances are always a potential threat, Mr. Uchiha," the headmaster said. "But you could say I was. . . _curbed_ a little considering the books you picked out."

Now how could he have known what he was reading? There were certainly surveillance cameras in there, but was that really enough to convince him? Then something peculiar came to mind.

"You sent Professor Oobleck to check on me," Sasuke stated, not even an accusation. Now he knew what the green-haired man's knowing smile meant. Was the Uchiha vouched for by that man?

" _Doctor_ Oobleck," Ozpin corrected on his colleague's behalf. "And yes, I sent him to see what you were reading and his opinion." Not even a lick of shame as he admitted that he sent a spy to his desk. Didn't matter much to Sasuke, however, as long as this person's belief of him being a threat had lessened.

"What does that change?" Sasuke asked. "Thank you for letting me a have place for the night and use of your library, but I haven't changed my decision. I will not be a student here, even if it means leaving Beacon." All the man did was nod and place his hands together on top of his desk.

"I understand that, so I've decided to simply let Beacon house you as you acquaint yourself to our ways," the headmaster stated. "But on one condition." Sasuke knew there had to be something, altruism was nothing but a risk when you should be wary, which Ozpin definitely was after the 'event' he vaguely mentioned yesterday.

"You are to essentially be a student-" He rose a hand when Sasuke was about to interrupt. "-but with certain liberties given to no one else." The Uchiha frowned, but let him continue. "According to Doctor Oobleck, the books you picked out books explained the most basic of information, so it matches someone who didn't know of the kingdoms."

Well, there was a completely valid reason for that, but that very reason won't ever be mentioned.

Ozpin continued. "You could say it made me believe part of your story that perhaps you aren't from those who harmed us. If it gets you to help us, I'm willing to let you walk amongst our students, attend any of the classes, and even have meals with them at the cost of Beacon."

"So essentially, now you're trying to let me convince myself that joining you would be my moral obligation?" Sasuke responded. Ozpin sighed and leaned back. "Not enough time to plan a quick method to make me turn to your side, so you opted for slow brainwashing?" He probably was going to think of another way during his stay, too.

"Brainwashing? I assure you this is merely a form of rhetoric," the headmaster replied, placing his elbows back on the table. "I'm not your enemy, and I hope you aren't mine. And In time, I hope to call you an ally."

The Uchiha thought it over. It didn't sound as bad as he was expecting. Yes, there were certain things he didn't like, such as attending classes, but perhaps he could put them to good use by finding some information that couldn't be answered simply from books.

"I want classes to be optional, that I leave at my leisure if I feel it's unimportant," Sasuke stated. "Also, I want access to the capital to understand where I'm staying." That was pretty much all he needed, some extra freedom of movement.

Thinking it over, Ozpin eyed the ninja. "You _will_ attend the classes and abide by the rules of Beacon, the special set for you, anyway. But I'll even have you allowed certain absences depending on the reasons. Don't abuse it, because I will notice." The Uchiha stared long and hard, but nodded in the end. Those were acceptable, better than he'd hoped actually. "Well then, I'll have things prepared for you tomorrow, so enjoy your free day."

Sasuke said his goodbye, and left through the elevator down. It gave him time to think about his new position in Remnant as some pseudo-student. It wouldn't really hamper him when he began his search for a way home, and it certainly handled where he would stay and who he's surrounded by.

The doors opened to the hallway, and decided to lead himself to the cafeteria to find himself something to eat. Considering how few a students were around, Sasuke assumed that classes were still in session, and that the canteen should be just as sparsely populated.

Even if it wasn't, it didn't matter as long as he got some food in his grumbling stomach.

* * *

After a hearty and healthy meal, which were more on the side of hearty than healthy considering the options he saw, Sasuke went back to the library to read up on more of Remnant, partly due to his curiosity of the world itself. While he would like to say the women here had decided he was no longer interesting, it was more like they were changing shifts when to stalk him on when they had classes or not. He heard someone mention a fan club, and hoped it was simply his mind playing tricks on him.

' _One of these days. . .'_ He hoped the same in his world, but it just never seemed to work. His marriage helped ease things, as did having people fawn over Naruto, but that was only when he was in his own village. While traveling, it was as though in his younger days.

The Uchiha looked to the side at the sound of loud, odd mumbling, and saw Ruby in uniform carrying several books in her arms. She was muttering something about showing how she could be a good leader to Weiss. She turned to see a familiar face staring at her. "Sasuke!" she exclaimed, before immediately being shushed by the resident students. She muttered quick apologies as she made his way to him books in hand.

"Rose," Sasuke greeted with a nod as she plopped on the seat, spilling all the books she carried onto the table. He didn't have to look around to notice the jealous eyes against this 'daring' young girl who approached the mysterious and silent warrior who accepted her. Fortunately for Rose, she didn't notice. "I never took you for the studious type."

"Not you too," she groaned as she picked up a random book from the pile. "I'll show you and Weiss. . ." She trailed off into low murmurs and mumbling as she began to 'read' the book. "She's mad at me for the whistle in the morning, I'm sure."

He ignored her mumbled, last statement, mostly from uncertainty what she meant. Assuming what he read and heard was right, students in Beacon were made into teams of four, and that Ruby was the leader of her team. He wasn't sure what she had shown that she was leader material, but perhaps the administration saw something he didn't.

"Is there a reas-" "Do you know what it takes to be a leader?" Ruby asked abruptly, cutting off Sasuke's question. "Sorry, I had an argument with Weiss about it."

If Weiss was who he remembered, he could guess the reason she asked and the argument. "I assume she believed herself to be the better choice for a leader?" Ruby nodded. The Uchiha could sympathize with the heiress, since he had a similar thinking when he was younger and saw Naruto only as the dead last. "Then you're asking the wrong person. I haven't seen you nor the other girl's action on the field enough to deduce properly."

Sasuke knew them for a very limited amount of time. How would he know whose right and wrong? "You were the one who was made leader, and she must follow your orders. That's all that matters in the end." The chain of command, a lesson taught to young students in the ninja academy.

"But she's my friend, she doesn't _have_ to follow my orders," Ruby defended her partner, then looked unsure. "Okay, maybe not 'friend', but she still doesn't have to obey me." She sighed. "I just want show her that I can be a good leader."

"Trying to better one's self for the sake of the group is one sign of a good leader," Sasuke said offhandedly, gesturing to the books covering multiple subjects she brought to the table.

"She says she studied and trained with the best, though." From the way Ruby sounded, it must have hit her confidence in leading the team. "So I need to show her that I can get stronger and smarter, too."

All Sasuke did was turn to the next page of his book. He didn't know much about leadership besides leading team Taka for that short amount of time, and he knew he wasn't much of a good leader then.

"Being trained by the best only means you had access to good warriors to be a good fighter, it means nothing about leading a team," the Uchiha said as he laid his book down on the table, and reached for the next one. "What matters is that you would lead your team, your new family, to live another day even if you won't."

Kakashi spoke about how his father abandoned the mission for the sake of his team, and how Konoha's famed White Fang was treated afterwards by the village. Sasuke found an argument in whether the mission for the sake of an entire village was more important than the immediate lives of your comrades, but Ruby didn't have to bother with that as of yet. She'd learn in due time and make her own decisions during her job as a Huntress.

"Then continue to learn and train, Ruby Rose," Sasuke said, looking into her silver eyes. "The more you learn and the stronger you get, the better the chances of leading yourself and your team out of arduous situations to see the next day." The mission or the team, which was more important? This wasn't something you prepare for in a class, it was something you experience to understand.

"But what if there was someone whose already stronger and smarter than me?" she asked, leaning in to hear his answer.

The Uchiha wasn't sure why she thought his opinion on the matter would help, since her sister would surely make a far better support for Ruby than he would. Pep talks weren't his forte, so he might as well answer truthfully.

"There will always be someone stronger and smarter than you," Sasuke said as went back to his book. "What matters is that you are smarter and stronger than you were the day before. Constantly improve to overcome your own weaknesses, not that of others."

Years ago, the Uchiha would have told her that only to defeat powerful enemies meant she was strong, but that only told you were better than them, not strong. If those very people came back stronger, faster, and smarter to defeat you, then they would have overcome their own weaknesses, and that was true strength to Sasuke now.

Naruto irritatingly proved that.

"Thanks, Sasuke." Looking back at her smiling face, it seemed what he said was enough to help get her confidence and drive back up. She stretched her arms above her as she leaned back on the chair more relaxed than before. "I guess what Weiss said was right, but it doesn't have to stay that way." She leaned forward on the table and collected the books she had before sitting back down, but then looked to the Uchiha. "How long were you here anyway? I didn't see you at all today."

"Since three in the morning." She made a weird throaty sound at the response, but Sasuke didn't see why as he went back to his book that detailed more about the geography of Remnant.

"It's five in the afternoon!" she yelled, and winced at the amount of shushing aimed her way. "Are you telling me you've been here all day?" Even though she practically whispered, he could hear her surprise and disbelief. "Why?"

Because he didn't want to appear as a person _not_ from this world. "What you know, I know differently," Sasuke stated. It wouldn't be _that_ outlandish to come from a reclusive society, would it? "I'm trying to ascertain where our societies differ."

Apparently it caught her interest, since Ruby leaned in forward. "Like what?" She looked to the many books scattered on the table, probably trying to guess what he meant.

'Like what?' indeed. What the answers were was important, as he was being recorded which might be used against him if the footage was ever looked back on, and that was if Ruby didn't spread the information around. Sasuke could assume that the relationship between him and the headmaster was docile at best, but there was still wariness involved. More from Ozpin's side than his.

Picking up a book, Sasuke gestured to the title 'Properties of Dust'. "What you call 'Dust', we call 'Hero's Ore' or simply 'Ore'," he answered. The fake name didn't matter, but the fake lore behind it did. It took some time to pick a name and a tale for certain items, so he tried to be as creative as he could on the matter. If to simply close up loopholes.

And 'Dirt' wasn't exactly an elegant term.

"Whoa," she sounded at the concept. "Why call it that?" Ruby looked thoughtful for a moment. "Where do you come from, anyway?"

Here goes nothing. "We call it 'Hero's Ore' because it is believed that it's the crystalized blood from fallen warriors of the past," he lied. It helped that there was something to support it. "If you remember, my Chakra, what you call 'Aura' here, has a lightning quality to it. When I die, my blood would turn into lightning Ore for future warriors to use; or lightning Dust here."

Sasuke had to admit that he took the aspect Chakra nature of his world to use it for the story he made. Plus, it does describe his society as an archaic civilization with heavy mysticism, which was not far from the truth, actually. Especially when compared to this technological world. "As for where I'm from, I'm not comfortable sharing that information."

"Oh, sorry," she apologized, but Sasuke didn't pay it much heed. "So what other things did you find out?" She looked around at the books, probably trying to guess what the answers might be.

What else had he found out? He wouldn't know where to begin if he answered truthfully. "We call 'Semblance' as Bloodline Limit, 'Grimm' as Demons, but not much else thankfully," he replied evenly with a shrug. Might as well keep things simple for him to remember, especially since they were quite similar, he thought. "Customs are vastly different, however, something books can't help me with." That last statement was the only full truth.

Technologically, Remnant was infinitely more advanced than even Yukigakure, particularly their arms manufacturing and computers. It was actually rather impressive, especially those holographic monitors he could see around him.

However, the more spiritual side left much to be desired in terms of information. The books weren't very helpful in describing Aura, as it's still a fairly unknown subject. Chakra, however, was a well-known and studied energy in his world, so it was disappointing to read mostly folklore, theories, and speculations about Aura.

 _'When technology was this advanced, it should be the exact opposite,'_ Sasuke mused. From the books, it seemed that Aura was extremely passive, and only used intentionally when empowering it, and using a Semblance or certain smaller techniques. Especially when compared to Chakra, which was an active energy used depending on the skill of the user; it was far from automatic like Aura. _'Is it_ _ **that**_ _different?'_

"Huh, so it's like a whole new world for you, yeah?" Ruby stated, head resting on her arm.

 _'You have no idea.'_ And if things were to go Sasuke's way, she never would. He nodded, though, and decided to get up to return the books in their proper places, and it was time for a little walk around Vale and see where he was. "Think about what I said about strength, Ruby Rose, and perhaps it will get you passed times of self-uncertainties."

"I will," she responded in a more upbeat tone. "Where're you going?"

He shrugged. "I want to look around Vale, and now's a good time as any," he answered as he collected more of his books to return, then looked to the one in his hand which was picked out by Ruby, and sighed at the title.

"Hey!" Ruby exclaimed as Sasuke began taking her books. "What're you doing!?"

She looked miffed, but he ignored her annoyance and continued to see what her choices of literature were. "Wait here," he told her, and walked off with her books in hand, leaving her at the table.

Skimming through from memory, Sasuke took out certain books he read previously. _Dustology_ by Pan was simply confusing; and _One-Thousand Historic Stories_ by Scheherazade had conflicted with itself multiple times. The Uchiha didn't bother placing those books back where they were found, and just put them in the nearest empty space.

Sasuke came back to the table minutes later with fewer books than he left with. "These two explain Dust in simpler manner," he pointed to the two books he set on the table. "These three explain history chronologically without clear bias, and this one discusses Aura theory without obnoxious story-telling," he said while pointing out which books.

Honestly, Beacon should overhaul their library a little. Sasuke had read the first few pages of Ruby's books hours ago, and immediately set them back when he noticed their cumbersome or simply pointless method of informing. Granted, he hadn't read _all_ of what Ruby picked out, but one with _Aura and Me_ as a title didn't help his confidence in why Ruby chose any of her books, and he wasn't going to do it haphazardly and simply got rid them all.

Ruby looked to each book Sasuke brought. "They're thinner too!" she screamed out as she held up one of Sasuke's book in the air, no doubt referring to the thick, cumbersome books she brought out before. She would have been shushed, but he guessed people already seemed to have given up on her.

Perhaps it was because he expected this kind of reaction from a familiar blonde back home, but Sasuke found himself amused at Ruby's response and look of relief that her self-given reading was essentially halved.

"Learning from this first set of books is only the first step, so don't think you will be finished after simply reading and memorizing these," the Uchiha said. The way the sparkles vanished from her eyes was priceless. It reminded him of the time he told Naruto to lay off the ramen, that look of horror as if he committed heresy. "You can study all you wish, but it's pointless if you don't know how to implement it effectively." The more he spoke, the more she sunk in to her seat.

Learning the technique was half the process, the next half and most important was mastering it. If by some strange event that Ruby learned **Chidori** , she would still need to know how to successfully conjure it while under pressure of battle, and to know when to best utilize it.

"When you have a goal you must achieve, these things will seem trivial the further you go," Sasuke said, recalling his quest for revenge against Itachi when he was younger. It was something he hated remembering, but he knew that goal made him train harder and faster than most. He only wished that it was for better reasons.

The Uchiha nodded to her and turned to leave, but not before hearing, "thanks, Sasuke."

He hadn't stopped walking to the exit, but he did turn his head and nodded once more to her. "Study well, Ruby Rose." While it was only just showing her a few books, he wondered if this was what it was like with Naruto and Konohamaru; minus the teaching of that ridiculous, perverted technique of theirs.

"One more thing," Ruby said quickly before he could get to leave. Sasuke stopped and turned to face the girl, waiting for her to say what she wanted. "You can just call be 'Ruby' since we're friends. No need with the fancy, formal stuff." He shrugged lightly at the simple request, but nodded nonetheless. "Alright then, see you soon?"

See each other soon? Considering that Beacon was his home for the time being, that's a given. "Soon," Sasuke replied with a quick nod. "Take care then, Ruby." He then turned and left after she waved goodbye.

The Uchiha stiffened when he heard a loud slap from behind. When he looked, Ruby had her hands on cheeks, and a strong look of determination. "Alright, Mission: Show Weiss She's Wrong commence!" she yelled before diving into the books he brought out for her. He let out a breath of amusement before continuing his way.

Walking out of the library, the Uchiha wondered how Ruby thought he was a friend when they hadn't met for that long; more so the 'why' than the 'how'. _'Is it that easy?'_ If so, Naruto would have had droves of them during his childhood if he wasn't a hated Jinchūriki.

He passed many people wearing the designated uniform of Beacon on his way to the exit. It wasn't hard to guess that since a vast majority of them were wearing it, only a few wore their combat or casual attire. It was the combat attire that interested him, however, with the diverse amount either wore full armor or partial, but it must have been a custom job with all these variations, the Uchiha believed.

An expensive luxury back home, since they mostly wore the official flak jacket if they wanted. Most steel went into weapons and tools rather than armor, considering the only official attire outside of ANBU that even had metal was. . . He stopped in his tracks and checked his person to see if it was still there. _'The headband is missing,'_ he thought with a frown before he continued walking.

Sasuke tried to recall if it was on him during the dimensional jumping. It would be problematic if not downright impossible to find if it fell off in any of those hellish worlds. The only saving grace of that was he doesn't even remember taking it with him when he wore his old clothes yesterday morning. So it was likely back home with his traveling wardrobe.

The Uchiha sighed as he made his way out of the building. It wasn't something he usually forgot, but perhaps it was best he didn't have a scratched headband at the moment, if the people here were smart enough to understand the connotation of the gouged symbol. _'Doesn't matter now.'_ It was literally worlds away.

Outside, there wasn't much to be seen besides a simple courtyard, a place for simply walking around or meeting with friends, but that wasn't what he came out here to see. Sasuke walked closer to the port of Beacon, and at first he saw the sea, but the more he walked, the more he saw of Vale.

When he reached the end, he had to admit that Vale was certainly a sight to behold, especially looking down onto it from a cliff passed a body of water, this capital of an alien world. _'I suppose I'm the alien one here. Still, a city as large as this would be a major power back home.'_ It was hell of a lot bigger than Konoha, and Sasuke could imagine the industry they had here. Although if what he read was correct, the crown of industry in this world was for Atlas. Perhaps he would visit it someday if the opportunity ever presented itself.

The Uchiha thought if he should just jump off the cliff and onto the body of water below to reach the city, but decided against it and turned to one of the nearby vehicles. In his world, some abilities were available to all, almost no different than the acts of summersaults and tree jumping acquired from training, but that's not the case here for walking on water.

Of course, that doesn't count for technology, and just like their weapons, Remnant's modes of transportation seem to be just as advanced. _'A metal machine that flies,'_ Sasuke thought as he walked closer to the vacant aircraft. _'Back home, all of its kind was destroyed with the Sora-nins.'_ He would have had a hard time believing such things existed if he hadn't read that they used a port to _fly_ students in and out of Beacon.

Touching the hull, Sasuke confirmed that it was indeed made of metal. "Oi, you heading out to Vale?" He turned to see a man wearing odd clothes and a helmet. "If you're done groping my bullhead, that is."

 _'Bullhead?'_ the Uchiha repeated in his mind, then looked back to the aircraft. _'Is that what it's called?'_ Perhaps it was because of those things on its wings that made it look like horns of a bull combined with the sturdy look of it. "Are you the one who flies this _bullhead_?"

"Damn right I'm the pilot. So you gonna hop on or what?" the man asked. "Or do you want some more alone time with it?" There seems to be an added level of snark in this world, the Uchiha noticed as the fool grinned.

"I want to see the capitol," Sasuke answered, ignoring the man's remark. "Immediately if possible." He was curious about the city itself, but also on how it would be like to fly in what was essentially a metal box.

The pilot's grin dropped, likely disappointed from the lack of reaction. Good. "Yeah, yeah, just get in and I'll get you there," he said with a grunt of displeasure as he climbed into the bullhead and sat in the front. The ninja was thankful that the pilot had given up on his humor.

Following the pilot's lead, Sasuke jumped into the cabin, and took one of the available seats in the bullhead. A high-pitched whine filled his ears, and it was slowly getting louder as the seconds ticked by, but it was what happened next that was. . . _unique_.

A sudden downwards force caused him to tense up, and since the view outside the small window showed that was getting higher, he rather quickly deduced that he didn't like flying in a bullhead. _'A heavy, metal box. . . in the air.'_ He clamped down on his discomfort, but only in appearance, which didn't exactly matter as he was the only one in the cabin. . . the metal cabin with no open escape route.

' _You've flown before, stop exaggerating!'_ he scolded himself, but a voice in his head kept telling him that hawks flew, metal bento boxes don't, especially at the speed the pilot was now taking to move forward. _'You fought a goddess, this is nothing.'_ He was already coming with quick escape plans, which only served to remind him what he felt about the bullhead ride and the embarrassment that followed.

A minute of stress, that's all it took for him to go through until Sasuke finally reached the ground. _'Humiliating,'_ he thought annoyingly as he got off the bullhead and unto Vale's solid ground. He knew he wasn't even in danger, not with the techniques he had acquired over the years, but being in a tight, metal box flying high through the air with no control over it was. . . _irksome_ , to say the least.

And he had to use it again to get back.

To the side, Sasuke saw a few other bullheads, most likely one of those were going to be his return trip. _'Stop acting like a child,'_ he scolded himself once more when he felt rising frustration at the concept. He walked away from the aircraft, ignoring the pilot who muttered something along the lines of 'thankless brat'. Sasuke didn't care, he just wanted to walk off the flight.

Fortunately, there more than enough sights to switch his focus on. The people dressed not too oddly compared to his world, but it was again the technology that caught his eye. The cars were sleek and quick, but were also noisy, so he could do without those, but the architecture was as different as could be from his world.

He gathered attention from the women here, as per usual, but he expected it since it was the same in Beacon as well. Still though, one particular was far too old to think of such. Sasuke shivered slightly at the memory as he continued wandering. Regardless of the nostalgic and unwelcome stares, it was intriguing seeing more civilians than warriors. _'Economy seems to be more important than having a large army,'_ Sasuke mused. _'Perhaps the Grimm situation isn't as dire as I was told.'_

There were always ninjas when walking the streets back home, more for recuperation between missions rather than security, but that didn't make them idle if there was a crime occurring near them. Needless to say, being a criminal in a ninja-heavy environment was riskier than most people expected.

Nearby, a television on a store's display was on a news station was explaining how another Faunus protest for equal rights was disrupted. _'It seems hatred is present in this world as well,'_ Sasuke mused as he continued watching the report before walking away. _'This world's hatred is someone else's problem, not mine.'_ More so because he would rather not change anything in a world he wasn't even supposed to be in.

If this White Fang want to find equality through violent means, then Sasuke wouldn't stop them unless they decided to target him for whatever reason. Regardless, the social working of this world had nothing to do with him, especially when he intended to return home.

"Pardon," Sasuke said as he bumped into a man on the way, and moved on quickly before the man would say a word. Bringing his hand up, he opened the wallet he had just 'procured', it didn't have much in the lien these people used, but it should be enough to get a meal and a few items. Fortunately, a nearby store was just what he needed.

The Uchiha walked through the door, the bell ringing his entrance to the clerk of the store. "Welcome to Tucson Book Trade, home to every book under the sun," the man said behind the counter, a book in hand telling Sasuke that he had interrupted his own reading. "I'm Tucson, so what can I help you with?"

Walking forward and looking around, Sasuke finally stood in front of the large man. "I'm looking for books with general information. Encyclopedias, journals, school textbooks, and the like," the Uchiha told the clerk. The books within Beacon weren't bad, but he would rather have a few outside sources just in case any books were omitted from the library. Plus, there should be some interesting things he could take back home.

Tucson hummed as he rubbed his chin. "I don't have much of those, but there should be some of what you're looking for in the back corner," he said as he pointed towards a place behind the ninja. "Unless you want to special order anything, those are all I've got at the moment."

Special order? That would be convenient for Sasuke, but should also be quite expensive. Fortunately, there was a sea of pockets right outside, and all he needed was a few disguised clones. As for the wallets after they've been emptied and tossed away, surely some morally-obliged citizen would find and return it. . . or not; it wasn't Sasuke's problem, nor did he care.

He walked to the books he was told about, and looked through the titles and subjects to see if there was anything of note. Sasuke mostly saw books about mathematics, general sciences, and literature, but he saw a few books that spoke of Aura and history of Remnant. So he picked out two books he could take with the budget he had. Stealing them would be easy, but he intended to come back here later, and would rather not have the ire of the clerk.

Sasuke brought the two books up to the counter and placed the money beside them. "I'm also going to take you up on your offer to request books," he informed the large man. "History, Aura, Dust, and Grimm, these subjects I would like you to prioritize if you find any books for me."

While it was extremely unlikely, Sasuke was concerned if there was a possibility of Grimm appearing in his world even if it may not be in his lifetime, some information would go a long way. Aura and Dust might be of use back home, perhaps even utilized when he better understood them. Hell, ninjas might even had access to them but never knew. If he was going to be in this world for a while, he might as well get something out of it.

Tucson hummed as he scratched his impressive sideburns. "I'm not gonna lie, that's a weird set you want. With a sword like that, I thought you were a warrior, not a scholar," he said as he pointed towards Kusanagi on the Uchiha's waist. "Still, I'll need to check with my supplier. If you want, I can let you know when the new books come in. It's not going to be cheap, though."

The Uchiha was sure the people of Vale wouldn't mind their money going into education. "Don't worry about money," Sasuke said. "As for notifying me." He gave Tucson his Scroll. "Put your contact information in and take mine."

The clerk looked confused. Very confused, actually. "Uhh. Wouldn't be easier if you just told me?" As it turned out, his voice also showed his confusion.

 _'Yes, it would be. . . if I knew what my contact information was,'_ Sasuke thought sourly. He should've asked before he left, but he didn't think he had to, and he was certain Glynda hadn't even mentioned it in her brief explanation. And it's not that he didn't know, either, it was that he didn't know _yet_. "Just add your name and information so we can be done here." Ruby might tell him how the inner workings of this blasted device works.

Tucson sighed and shrugged before he began working on his own and Sasuke's scroll. After a few beeps that came from the Scrolls, he gave the ninja's device back. "Alright, I added your number to mine and added mine to yours. What should I call you by?"

"Sasuke Uchiha," he answered, causing Tucson to type a few more things on his Scroll. "Make sure to notify me whenever a new book becomes available." the Ninja nodded his farewell, and saw the clerk bade him goodbye as he left the shop.

Outside, the sun had begun to set, as the shattered moon was becoming brighter than when he first came to the capital. Still, Sasuke had some time he wished to kill, more so to ease all the stress from the studying he'd been doing for the whole day. As he walked further from Beacon, he spotted the spire in the distance.

 _'The CCT tower,'_ Sasuke concluded. Technologically, the Uchiha didn't focus much on those details, but he understood that this was the only way for the kingdoms to communicate with one another, something that was never an issue back home. Mostly because they rather preferred _not_ to talk with one another back then. _'When united through a war, communication is paramount.'_

But that wasn't what he found interesting about this tower system, it was that it was vital for all four to be active for them work. _'Such a weakness. If one was to fall, all are to fall with it.'_ The poeticism wasn't lost on Sasuke, but he hoped it was a technical aspect that was unavoidable rather than an overlooked flaw. Regardless, the protection on those must be intense.

The Uchiha looked back forward, the time walking had him find himself in the shiftier parts of Vale. Since it was now fully night, the darkness wasn't helping the 'hospitality' this place radiated. He found it amusing that in this part of town felt more in his element rather than Beacon itself.

Still, Sasuke found what he wanted and entered the nearest bar. Inside, he had to admit that it was rather nostalgic seeing so many unwelcoming stares, reminding him of his days traveling to obscure villages barely found on the map. Of course, like here, none dared to voice their thoughts, likely from his appearance as a Huntsman.

One thing out of place, however, was a young girl with pink hair who couldn't be older than Ruby back in the corner looking rather bored. In addition, these men seemed to have made a dead zone around her, none of them wanting to get close. Whatever the reason was, the Uchiha didn't care and sat at the counter on the opposite end of the bar.

"What's your poison?" the bartender asked from behind the counter.

"Do you have a drink called 'Sake' here?" the Uchiha asked, and received the negative. "Then whatever is common will do." The man grunted before walking away to a tap with a cup in hand. It wasn't surprising when a woman took the seat next to him. In fact, it was almost expected.

Sasuke looked to the woman, and saw it was the pink-haired one from earlier. Up close, he mentally corrected himself about mistaking her for a young girl. "You don't see a student from Beacon come here every day." Even her voice was that of someone older than him.

Looking back forward, the mug of fizzy, orange liquid might as well have magically appeared in front of him, considering how fast the barkeeper slammed his drink down before getting away from him quickly. _'Her, specifically,'_ the Uchiha corrected once more as he looked to the woman again. "Neither have you today."

All she did was blink for a moment, then gave Sasuke an uncomfortably familiar grin. "Well, what's a Huntsman like you doing here?" she asked, almost in a mocking tone.

"Neither am I a Huntsman," Sasuke told her, patience thinning. He brought the cup to his lips, if only to show faux casualness. "What do you want?" He took a sip, and put back down to never drink more of it. "Disgusting." He looked to the barkeeper, but all that man did was ignore him. Again, he reminded himself, because of _her_.

The pink-haired woman laughed. "That's what you get for ordering the cheap stuff," she told him as her mirth died down to normal levels. "As for what I want." She tapped her chin as she hummed. "Some fun doesn't sound too bad. What do you say, Mr. Not-A-Huntsman?" Chairs creaked as some decided to leave the shabby bar. From the looks of the bartender, he wanted to run as well.

 _'Who the hell is this woman?'_ he pondered. "I want none of it. Go ask someone else," the Uchiha quickly told her as he got up to leave as well. From the reactions he'd been seeing, he had an idea of the fun she wanted. Just like Jūgo's term for fun when he went on a rampage.

Placing a few lien on the counter, he immediately drew his hand when it was just about to be pierced through from a steel blade. Almost as immediate as the kunai that was now on the woman's jugular, and his grip on it was as tight as the grip on the woman's wrist to hold her and her sword in place.

"You're either stupid, or you have a death wish," Sasuke said with a scowl, his Sharingan saw the same haze of Aura he expected to see, but what he didn't expect was her giggling. Perhaps his comparison with Jūgo was a little too accurate. He wanted to cut deeper to show the seriousness of the situation, but the Aura shield wasn't even letting his knife cause a scratch.

"But you already are," she told him with a wink. When she wanted to move, Sasuke put his elbow on her neck, and forced her head on the counter, her arm still firmly in his grip, and knife still on the side of her neck. "Now why would a snot-nosed Huntsmen place a knife where it could kill me."

"I am _not_ a Huntsman," he said once more, putting more pressure down her neck. He was a ninja, with a doctrine far different than that of a Hunter. Shinobi's fought against other shinobi for the sake of their country, Hunters fought against criminals and Grimm for the sake of humanity. Hunters were supposed heroes; shinobi were soldiers. Sasuke read enough to know their principles were barely alike.

Even when half her face was stuck on the table, the damn woman still had the audacity to giggle in her position, it stopped when he raised her gripped arm to cause some pain. "Oh, I know that now," she said as she looked up at him and his Sharingan. "Nice eyes, you have there. Maybe we have something in common." Her eyes switched from brown to pink at a blink. "Right, killer?"

Sasuke wanted to press more on the knife, but it was pointless since her Aura was protecting her. "You don't even know me, yet you dare speak as though you do." He humored the idea of imbuing it with wind or lightning, but thought better of it. . . for now.

"When someone's first reaction is to put a knife where it could kill me, I get a few clues." She sounded so proud of herself too.

"Then why don't I kill you right now?" the Uchiha voiced as he raised her outstretched arm some more, it went from uncomfortable to painful. Her grunt showed it was working. "Don't mock m-"

"You won't kill me, because you can't," she interrupted. If she meant he wouldn't kill her because of her Aura or some moral compass, Sasuke wasn't sure. "I know some pretty dangerous people, and as luck would have it, we're looking to hire someone also dangerous."

Sasuke raised a brow. "I'm threatening to kill you, and you talk about employing me?" It was something he heard of when targets were in a panic to save their own lives. Either she was clinically insane, or just damn cocky. "Wait. 'We're'?" He quickly scanned the bar, but the place was empty, even the bartender left long ago.

"I say 'We're', but a friend of mine isn't really happy with the quality of workers we have, so you could say he's the one- _Hrk!_ " Sasuke's moved her arm only slightly higher to shut her up.

"I've heard enough," Sasuke said unkindly. "You will leave this bar, and if I catch you following me, no amount of Aura will stop the next knife to touch your neck. Understood?" She grumbled, but nodded. "Good." He let her go and back stepped away, hand on Kusanagi for any foolishness on her part.

Maybe it was because of her genuine nonchalance that he saw with his Sharingan or just shinobi paranoia, but he kept feeling that she could have escaped his simple hold whenever she wanted, but didn't; that she decided to _humor_ him. Regardless, this outing was over, and he's going to wait for her to leave first.

She stood up and rolled her sore shoulder, then she took the blade that was stabbed into the counter, causing Sasuke to half unsheathe his own sword audibly to reminder not to do anything stupid. Looking at it now, her own blade had an unusually curved handle, which made sense when she put into a small umbrella of all things.

Sasuke fully unsheathed the sword when the woman leaned over the counter in search of something. "Need I remind you to leave?" he said threateningly. She didn't answer, but she did find a pen and scribble something on a nearby napkin.

"Money, Dust, or maybe just want to have a good time," she said as she waved around the napkin, and again, he knew her definition of 'good time' was vastly different than his. "Give me a call."

Sasuke went into a defensive stance after a bright flash of light, but that was all there was. There wasn't a sound of a sword whistling as it cut the air, no sounds of steel clashing, or any attack for that matter. All there was in the room was a napkin slowly falling to the floor.

A few seconds of silence passed before Sasuke was convinced it was safe enough to sheath Kusanagi. He still erred on the side of caution and kept his Sharingan active, even as he walked to the napkin the woman dropped on the ground, which had a sequence of numbers and a name.

"Neopolitan," the Uchiha tried the name, but it was what this meant that interested him. _'A connection to the criminal underworld.'_ Sources of information, materials, and even technology. If it was similar to back home, this was very valuable if he ever needed things unavailable through conventional, legal means.

Looking at the numbers on the napkin, Sasuke frowned. For it to happen twice on the same day, he really should have learned before he left Beacon. _'How do I add numbers to a Scroll?'_

* * *

 **I hate myself that I had Neo be able to talk, but alas, it's too late for me to change that considering how much I** _ **need**_ **it to happen. You don't like it? Believe me, the one who hates it most is** _ **me**_ **! Ah well, I messed up and learned, better now than later.**

 **Trivia:**

 **1-The person Sasuke was supposed to meet at the bar was actually Roman, but alternate plans began forming and I decided to change it. The version of chapter 2 most of you read wasn't even the first version in the outline. Technically, this new one is the third version (the first was** _ **that**_ **bad).**

 **2-Some of you don't know this (thank God), but the first chapter that was around 5K words initially had eleven page breaks (fucking** _ **eleven**_ **!). After the updated version in December 2015, it turned to** _ **zero**_ **, which said a lot about my lack of skill in transitions back then.**

 **3-I'm still upset from how fast paced things are, and the lack of more interaction between Sasuke and Co, but it really helped me how I want to write any fic. While I love it, AHP's biggest purpose was to mostly help me set my style, and know what I should and shouldn't do.**

 **Chapter 3 is waiting to be read, do you want to disappoint me like I disappoint my parents?**

 **I need a hug for that edgy joke.**


	3. Some Men Are Born To Good Luck

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 **Chapter 3 remastered!**

 **FYI: This chapter is almost strictly from Sasuke's perspective, as would be most of this fic if I knew beforehand. Reading** **Coeur Al-Aran** **(The greatest author on FF!) really solidified for me what a good story should be like.**

* * *

 **Neo Now Talks, And That Was My Stubborn Mistake; Since Then, There's An Irritation I Can't Shake!**

* * *

 **Chapter Three: Some Men Are Born To Good Luck**

The way back to Beacon after the little debacle in the bar wasn't anything of note. Despite the rather uncomfortable bullhead ride back to the academy with the repeated, mental, unconvincing mantra of 'metal boxes don't fly, but its fine' that came with it, it was rather smooth and uneventful.

 _'I need to get used to using the bullhead soon,'_ the Uchiha thought irritably as he walked through the halls of Beacon. It wasn't deep into the night, so there were still students walking around. _'If Naruto ever found out. . .'_ No one must know.

The Uchiha stopped abruptly and looked behind him, seeing a man suddenly dash out of view before he could make out his features. After a few confused blinks, he continued on his way back to his dorm room. It wasn't the first time he was stalked, but he could definitely say this was a first he was stalked by a grown man. . . other than Orochimaru, but that was different story altogether.

Looking back again, a blur of red before the same man vanished to hide behind another corner. Considering what he was about to do when he reached his room, he didn't want someone following him this close. He rounded to a different hallway and just stood there facing the corner he just turned.

It was probably three seconds before a heavily mustached face appeared before Sasuke. Up close, the ninja recognized him as the one who was meant to watch him the night before under orders from Ozpin. "Is there a reason you're following me?" The man's sweaty face and audible gulp said that there wasn't a proper answer.

"Aha!" the man proclaimed loudly, drawing what few eyes there were in the hallway onto them. "You have passed my first test! The test of vigilance is very important to Huntsmen such as ourselves."

Just as Sasuke thought, it wasn't a proper answer. "So you are not following me under Ozpin's orders?" They had their agreement, but it didn't mean they wouldn't keep him under watch, he supposed. That would be rather troublesome, actually.

"Why, of course not, lad," the talking mustache replied. "I, a teacher, would never do such a thing." Sasuke only stared at such a lie. Peter was his name, recalling what Doctor Bartholomew said about his 'boisterous' colleague.

"So it wasn't you sleeping outside-"

"I wasn't sleeping!" Peter interrupted quickly, then cleared his throat and composed himself once more. "I was merely resting, but I assure you was fully aware of my surroundings."

"You were snoring. . ." Rather loudly, too.

"That's beside the point!" It really wasn't, but Peter's indignation told Sasuke how this conversation would go. Even though he just admitted keeping an eye on Sasuke at the time.

Still, he was going to need some privacy. "Ozpin and I have come to an agreement for me to stay here as a pseudo-student, so there's no longer a need for you to watch me," the Uchiha said. "Surely, your wariness is a non-issue at this point." He didn't care much about their trust, and their fear of him was misplaced anyway. If this was an effort to make Sasuke agree to something else, the headmaster had another thing coming.

"Ozpin did what?"

Or the surprised Professor Peter here wasn't given the update about Sasuke's deal. Because of course he didn't. With a sigh, the Uchiha said, "your colleague, Bartholomew Oobleck, vouched for me. You can speak to him or the headmaster on the matter."

"Barty did what now?"

Even with the decent head start, impressions on the Beacon faculty were quickly dwindling for the Uchiha. "As I said, you can speak to your colleague or Ozpin on our deal." He turned to leave, but not before saying, "with that, I _ask_ that you stop following me."

The Uchiha decided that he had enough of these Remnant people in the past two hours. Not long ago there was a woman who tried to kill him in a bar, and now a grown man was stalking him. Great. . .

"A moment, if you will, Mr. Uchiha!" Speaking of grown men stalking him. "I believe we started on the wrong foot." As far as Sasuke was concerned, there was no 'we' in that situation, but he stopped walking and turned to the man once more. He cleared his throat and said, "perhaps its best we start from the beginning, since I'm going to be your teacher and all."

If Sasuke had his way, this man would be his teacher in the most minimal way possible.

"I'm Peter Port," he introduced himself. "I will be your instructor in Grimm Studies." Now that got Sasuke's attention. If this man was a scholar on Grimm biology and such, than he looked forward to his classes with this man. "Although I'm sure you have your own tales of wisdom."

The Uchiha wasn't sure what he meant by that and what it had to do with studying Grimm, but he was hopeful to get some information that the books he picked out seemed to lack. With how they disappeared after he killed them yesterday, it was easy to understand why it was so difficult.

Surely, this instructor must have his ways of learning about Grimm with unique methods. A genius, perhaps? "Sasuke Uchiha. I will be your student during my stay here at the academy." This man might finally give him answers about Grimm origins, and whether or not they could spawn in his own world. "I look forward to your classes."

"Hazaah!" Then again, this was the man who admitted of watching him only seconds after denying it. With a poor excuse, no less. "Worry not, my dear student-" Something about the way he said that made Sasuke feel regret over his decision "-I'll be sure to teach you the ways to make you a great Huntsman!"

It dawned on him. _'Guy and Peter must never meet.'_ While it was impossible, Sasuke still felt that these two share a hauntingly familiar attitude, ones that were better left separated. Lee and Guy as a combination was more than enough to remind him of those _particular_ memories.

Still, this was a professor who excelled in Grimm Studies. How else would he get the job if he wasn't a fully competent instructor?

"I look forward to that, professor," Sasuke lied, then nodded his head. "I'm rather tired from my tour of Vale, so I hope to see you in our next class together." At this point, just Peter leaving him would do just fine. He established the class he would visit, though.

"Ah, yes of course," the portly man answered. "I understand how important sleep is to us Huntsmen." Sasuke had no doubt Peter understood more than most. "After all, out in the field, sleep is merely the break for Grimm to escape my grasp before going after them again!" That feeling of regret from earlier returned tenfold. "Well then, goodnight, my invaluable student."

Sasuke had increasing doubts about this man being his teacher, but he bowed his head anyway and bade him goodnight before turning to find his room. Occasionally he looked back to see if Peter was still following him, but he wasn't in sight.

' _What have I gotten myself into?'_ the Uchiha thought with a grunt as he continued his way unhindered. Still, it wasn't like he intended to skip Peter's class on his first day. . . as tempting as it was after his first meeting with the man.

Finally in the room, he saw clothes on the handle wrapped in plastic, likely his uniform from Ozpin. He locked the door behind him and checked with his Sharingan for any more new 'additions' that might have happened while he was away, like the kinds used to spy on an unsuspecting new student. When he was convinced there were none, he took a knee, drew blood, and placed his palm on the wooden floor.

" **Kuchiyose no Jutsu**." A small explosion of smoke appeared where his palm was, and revealed a small, green snake the length of his arm.

His voice practically showed his young age. "What is this? Where am I?" the male snake hissed in confusion as it looked around the room before settling on the Uchiha. "You? Couldn't you have bothered someone else?" Ah, it was one of _those_ snakes. "The air tastes different. Where is this?"

"A different world," Sasuke answered, the snake only looked curious before tasting the air a bit more and coiled onto himself. "Best you get used to it, because I'm going to be summoning you more often to relay messages back home." The serpent nodded with displeasure at the prospect. "What's your name?"

"Tatsuya," he replied. Sasuke then told him how he got stuck on Remnant so he could relay it to Konoha. "What is your plan on leaving this world, summoner? I don't believe I need to explain why we can't reverse-summon you to Ryūchi Cave." Because it was impossible to dimensionally summon unless you had a Rinnegan that acted as a catalyst, Sasuke knew that.

Even then, his way home wasn't with using that volatile Rinne-Sharingan technique, that's for certain. The only method the Uchiha could hope for was a high-level Fūinjutsu seal, but he wasn't knowledgeable in that domain enough to attempt making one that specializes in interdimensional hopping. There was someone who _did_ know seals, though.

"I need you to ask the White Snake Sage for any Fūinjutsu that could bring me back," Sasuke said. "If anyone would know a seal like that, it's him, if not, then surely his archives hold something on the matter." If the Sage didn't, as unlikely as that sounded, then Naruto would ask the toads. If not, then Sakura would ask the slugs.

Tatsuya hissed in understanding. "I will ask the Wise Elder, and also inform the Anko woman to tell your den. Is there anything else?" The Uchiha shook his head. "Summon me at a later date, I will have a message ready. And if you wish to bother another of my brethren instead of myself, please do," he said before vanishing from Remnant entirely.

As far Sasuke was concerned, the first step to getting home was just taken, and a road to a plan was underway. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long, and as irritating as it might be, he couldn't do anything until the White Snake Sage found an appropriate seal.

The Uchiha laid on the bed given to him by Beacon, wondering what else had to be done while the Sage and his fellow ninja came up with a plan. If they needed him to do something on his end, he would gladly do so, but that was until he summoned Tatsuya again later on.

Closing his eyes, Sasuke couldn't help but feel a knot in his gut if things went south. _'Naruto tends to find a way regardless of the odds.'_ If it comes down to luck, Sasuke had that on his side, even though not with him personally.

The thought comforted him enough to let the darkness consume him, but not before thinking, _'I_ _ **will**_ _get back home.'_

* * *

Sasuke woke up before the alarm of his Scroll blared. Outside his window, he could see sunlight only recently lighting up the night sky. Even clearer was the shattered moon that fascinated him. How this could happen, Sasuke could only guess.

He spent a few extra seconds watching as the pieces of this world's moon look as though they've been drifting farther from the main body. At times it appeared full, almost no different from his own world's, but other times in its imperfect form just astounded him at the idea of some ability or event causing that much destruction.

 _'Our moon almost suffered a worse fate as well.'_ Thankfully, that situation with Toneri Ōtsutsuki was dealt with before the moon fell onto their planet. With that thought, Sasuke got up to prepare for what was essentially his 'first day of school'. Even as he thought about it, it just felt underwhelming.

Regardless, it was part of the deal to at least try out these classes, and that started with wearing the official Beacon uniform. Already he had a few 'critiques', particularly about the stiff wardrobe these people thought worked with being a warrior-in-training.

Picking up a strip of cloth that was meant to go around the neck, he thought sarcastically, _'am I supposed to hang myself with it?'_ There was a reason why trainees at the ninja academy wore what's comfortable and unhampering. _'I refuse to wear this,'_ the ninja decided as he threw it along with the set back into the drawer, and went into the bathroom for a mirror.

Forming a seal, his shinobi clothes were engulfed in smoke, later showing the Beacon uniform in all its formal splendor, but without the rough fabric and the neck hazard that came with it. He didn't want to imagine how uncomfortable and impeding it would be if he actually wore the blasted thing.

Picking up his Scroll from the bedside table, he saw that the time was still too early for his first class of the day, Grimm Studies, but there should be breakfast served for those who woke early, so he left the room for just that. And as he thought, the more he neared the cafeteria, the more students he saw, most heading in the same direction as him with their own teams.

And through large doors he found the dining area, filled sparsely by groggy students. _'The future protectors of Remnant right here,'_ Sasuke thought unamusedly as he walked passed them to the large buffet of food. Some finding newfound vigor to stare the ninja with wanting eyes. _'These people officially begin training at twelve, while at that age trainees start their duties as shinobis.'_ If Grimm were that problematic, this was grossly inefficient to him.

He picked up a tray to begin his selection, but another thing that was worthy of criticism was the food. If Naruto was here, he would have found solace in every single unhealthy food imaginable that's right in front of Sasuke. While the ninja whose actually stranded on Remnant was only unimpressed.

 _'Diabetes or high blood pressure, which one should I choose?'_ he thought cynically as he passed over the options of strips of meat and small cakes for _breakfast_. Instead, he picked up a box that held a rabbit character on the front. _'Surely this Pumpkin Pete has vegetables in it.'_ Why name it otherwise?

Out of caution, he looked to the nutritional facts, and immediately set it back to where it was with a frown. _'Poison, all of it.'_ With that much sugar in this 'healthy and nutritional' cereal, it was attempted murder. On top of that, if you bought fifty boxes of them, you could potentially win a hoodie. If any fool here chose clothing over keeping their blood clean from the toxins, Sasuke wouldn't be surprised.

He considered going to Vale for food instead. "Can I help you?" Sasuke looked to the source of the voice with a scowl, causing the familiar woman to recoil.

"It's you," he said as he softened up his glare at the sight of rabbit-eared woman in the female version of the Beacon uniform; Velvet, the headmaster called her. Combined with the lack of actual food, fangirls was the last thing he wanted and was glad it wasn't the case. "Did Ozpin send you again?"

She shook her head. "N-No," she stuttered out, then cleared he throat to compose herself from the sudden hostility. "Ah, well, you were stuck here for a while, so I wanted to see if you needed some help." He wasn't some underling that needed to be guided! "Is there something wrong with the food?"

What a silly question. "Food is nutritional, these, however, are garbage coated with sugar and oils," he said sourly while pointing towards the pile of pancakes drizzling with syrup. "Unless there's something here actually suited for breakfast, I'm going to find somewhere else to dine."

Wasn't this a school for young Huntsmen? Then how in the world did the faculty think it was good idea to serve sugary meals this early!? Then again, the Uchiha remembered their competency of keeping an eye on him the night before, snoring away in the darkness.

He heard a snort from her and glared at Velvet, however this time she was undeterred, but waved her hands placatingly. "Sorry, I just never took you for a health buff," she said somewhat sheepish.

"No, just a Faunus-eating savage."

Sasuke felt a small sense of victory when her cheeks reddened in embarrassment at the memory. "H-How about I show you where the healthy food is, eh?" she offered. As long as it was to get something to eat, he didn't care about switching topics, so he nodded.

"I never got your name, by the way," she said as they walked, most likely making conversation instead of odd silence, Sasuke assumed. "I'm Velvet Scarlatina, a senior student here at Beacon and member of team CFVY."

"Sasuke Uchiha," he replied. "Is there a reason you came to assist me rather than dining with your own team?" It wasn't as though they met for very long, and she clearly had her own fears of approaching him the first time. Was this a way to just get in his good graces? If so, she'll be getting nothing of the sort.

"Ah, well, my team isn't here right now. I usually wake up before them anyway. Yatsuhashi likes to say it's the rabbit part of me," she replied, but didn't stop walking ahead of Sasuke. "And nobody looked like they were going to help you, despite the stares." Oh, she noticed them as well? Probably from their library encounter, and she probably knew what those stares exactly meant. "I kinda know how it feels. . ."

She mumbled the last part in a low voice, but Sasuke heard it. She knew how it felt to be ogled as a piece of meat with lustful gazes? Looking at Velvet some more, she wasn't unattractive by any means of the word, but he still doubted that greatly. Still, it didn't seem as though she had ulterior motives, so he accepted her response.

"Yatsuhashi?"the ninja asked. One thing he noticed in this world was the inconsistency in name patterns, but no less exotic to him. Like the Xiao-Long woman from initiation, which sounded like it could be from the Elemental Nations, but her sister was called Ruby Rose, which was bizarre to him. So it was interesting to find a name that _was_ used back home here in Remnant.

"My teammate. Big guy with a big sword, helped me more times than I can count," she said fondly. The Uchiha knew that fondness, so he could empathize, if perhaps differently since he travelled more than staying in Konoha with his own comrades.

When she stopped walking, she turned to the ninja and gestured towards the new set of food that Sasuke might actually approve of this time. "We do have bran muffins that go great with tea, and some whole grain cereal that doesn't have the 'oils and sugar' that you don't like."

He scoffed. "If this is it, I should speak with Ozpin about adding more sensible food to the breakfast menu," the ninja thought out loud. Cereal? He wasn't some snot-nosed toddler! "Shouldn't be difficult with the all toxins you put in your bodies as is."

Apparently Velvet found his suggestion amusing and giggled. "I'll be looking forward to it, then," she said. "I guess I'll leave you to your breakfast then, unless you need something else?"

"No, this is adequate enough," Sasuke replied. He was _not_ going to be eating these cakes every morning, and he would certainly _not_ be eating cereal like a child or a Naruto. He may not be in any position to ask of Ozpin, but this was too much. "Thank you, Miss Scarlatina," he said with a nod.

"Oh, um, no problem. Just Velvet is fine," she said, shuffling a little at the unexpected gratitude. He wasn't coming off as arrogant, was he? Naruto always said that was a problem, but what would he know? "Calling me 'Miss Scarlatina' makes it sound like I'm much older than I am."

The Uchiha shrugged and nodded at the request. If the previous conversation with Ruby the other day was anything to go by, these people don't speak to each other as formally like back home. Or that it takes just one line of conversation to remove all formality on Remnant.

The two said their farewells and went their ways, Velvet's to do whatever she was doing before, and Sasuke picking out the small, brown cakes that the Faunus had just told him about and a cup of tea to go with it.

When he smelled it, it was astounding. _'Smells like nothing.'_ He may not be of the Inuzuka clan, but his sense of smell wasn't poor in the least. There was a miniscule scent of bread, but he was honestly unsure if that was from the muffin itself or the surrounding food.

Regardless, he chose these muffins full of useful fiber and nutrients rather than that slice of toast which smelled of cinnamon and pure sugar. He took two of the cakes and a cup of tea to a nearby, vacant table.

He was about to take bite, but then he heard, "excuse me, can I take a pict-!" The foolish girl froze at his glare, before backing away to whatever hole she came from. He couldn't help but feel it was the start of the library situation happening all over again. _'Someday. . .'_ Perhaps there would be a time when these hormonal teenagers control themselves, but it seemed like it wasn't today.

A bite from his muffin to ease in the day, but the flavor did little to help, mostly because of how little of the flavor there even was. At least the tea was good, so the morning wasn't so bad.

Until one of those girls decided to sit next to him. When he turned to glare her away, said girl's face smacked onto the table with a groan, causing the ninja to raise his brow and cause no small amount of confusion. This one was familiar however, particularly her impressive, golden hair.

"Xiao-Long?" Her response was some noise Sasuke wasn't sure even had a term, but it was her, apparently. Three more people also took seats close to him, one of who he saw was Ruby, who decided to join her sister and planted her face on the table with a moan. _'Perhaps they're sisters after all.'_

Looking to the other two, it was the bow-wearing girl and the white-haired one. "Ruby's team, I assume." The black-haired one nodded.

"We are the proud members of the awesome team RWBY, _yay~_ " Yang groaned out while her face was still on the table and an arm halfway up in the air. "I need more sleep. . ." Her sister's mumbles concurred with that sentiment.

"And narrowly miss class again? I think not!" Weiss exclaimed. "Is it because Port's class is the first of the day? I know his lecture last time was a little eccentric, but surely this one's going to be better."

"Sasuke, please make her pass out again."

"Don't you dare!"

It may have been a scant few seconds, but Sasuke began feeling that Ruby had her work cut out for her. Which would have sounded better had she not be mumbling about cookies while face down on the table across from him at this very moment.

"Maybe I should get some coffee-" "Cookies~" ". . . and cookies for Ruby and Yang to help them wake up," the black-haired one offered.

"Thank you, Blake, that'd be wonderful," said Weiss. When the now-named Blake got up to get said items, the Schnee peered her eyes to the ninja with a look of frustration before sighing. "I guess I should thank you, as well."

Well, that wasn't what he expected from his Sharingan victim. "I don't follow."

It seems as though it wasn't easy for the heiress as well, considering she was biting her lower lip in deliberation. "While I am angry that you made me pass out with that ability of yours in the forest that day, I noticed that Ruby has taken into reading nearly every subject imaginable through the night," she told him. "Hence the lack of energy right now." Her words were emphasized by her leader's garbled words that had her partner's brow twitch.

"And what does that have to do with me, exactly?"

Weiss took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Whatever you told her in the library helped her in ways _I_ should have," she told him with another sigh, ignoring that her leader was right beside her, but from how Ruby was constantly groaning, it was safe to assume she wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to them. "You supported her when I, her teammate, was supposed to. Again, thank y-.""I did nothing.""-Wait, what?"

Now it was the Uchiha's turn to let out a breath. "You're right in saying we spoke in the library, but she was already going to study those subjects before she even saw me," he told the Schnee, who was now looking at her leader in surprise. "Why do you think she was in the library to begin with? All I did was listen to her and brought her better books."

If she heeded his advice, then the work was on her, not him. Saying some words wasn't really the equivalent of actively helping, it was merely pointing towards the right direction, but it was up to the person to walk that path. As far as Sasuke was concerned, Ruby did all the work.

"Nah, you helped." That rebuttal wasn't from Weiss, but Yang whose face was still on the table, only now looking at the ninja while still weary from the early wake up. "You can dodge it all you want, but what you said told her had a strong effect. And you said it yourself, you brought her those books she stayed up reading." She then looked to her white-haired teammate. "You could learn to be a little humble."

"Hey, I am humble!"

"Rule one of humbleness: don't call yourself humble," Yang yawned out to her indignant teammate, then looked back to the ninja. "Either way, don't cut yourself short, ya helped Rubes whether you admit it or not."

"I believe Weiss' chiding was what got her to begin studying, I only pointed towards better sources," Sasuke defended. Ruby had the purpose, drive and the materials, all of which she utilized to better herself, and all he did was point to better means.

"And what about the part of making yourself a better leader? Yeah, she may have told us something about being strong means making yourself stronger than your previous self, but that doesn't sound like her. Now who do we know that gave her books and some advice recently?" The blonde was now resting her head on her arms, a bit more energized than before.

Regardless, Sasuke shook his head. "I told her my opinion on the matter, whether she takes it to heart and acts upon it is on her."

"Oh she did, believe me. You're probably right that Weiss insulted her into studying," she said as she glared a little at the heiress, who muttered out an apology, but continued to the ninja. "But you could say you were a better fuse to a grenade. Yeah, it's gonna explode no matter what when lit, but now more reliable and with vigor. Sounds like helping to me."

Blondes, such a stubborn species, Sasuke thought. He wasn't sure if any universe needed more or less of them. Naruto was more than enough in his life, and he would rather not have another even in a new world.

"Fine," he said finally, tired of this roundabout discussion. "I concede to your use of analogy with bombs of all things."

"Heh, comes with my _explosive_ personality." Her disaster of a joke caused the heiress to groan, which went well with Ruby's own that was going on in the background. "Oh c'mon! That was a good one, admit it. Help me out here, Sasuke."

The only help he gave her was roll of the eyes and sip of his tea, to which she responded with an outcry of how they lacked a sense of humor. Thankfully, Blake had come with two trays in hand.

"Considering Yang's whining-" "I'm not whining!" "- I take it another of her so-called jokes failed." Both the ninja and Weiss nodded. "Thank God I wasn't here," Blake said as she stuck a cup of coffee to her partner, to which Yang accepted with a pout. She also brought one extra for Weiss, who thanked her.

He saw Ruby sniff the air a few times, and turned her head to be greeted by a tray full of cookies. It seemed to have done the trick, since she essentially snatched it away before inhaling what was in front of her, along with a glass of milk that was on a different tray that Blake held. Considering how Blake's brow twitched, that cup wasn't for Ruby.

"Thanks, Blake, you're the best!" was what the Uchiha could translate through the mouthful of baked goods and milk. "So, what're we talking about?" Blake's shoulders slumped more as the milk was consumed by the hooded girl.

Yang rolled her eyes as she sipped her coffee. "Nothing, dear sister, nothing at all." From the look on her face, it was clear Ruby didn't believe it at that tone, but was too preoccupied with what was on her plate as is, literally. "Or we can talk about why Sasuke chose cardboard for breakfast."

"This was the most sensible option available, especially when the others would only clog my arteries," he replied as he continued eating his muffin. _'Perhaps there was more truth in Yang's words than I thought.'_ It wasn't bad, but describing it as cardboard wasn't far off the mark to what it felt like eating.

Still, he ate it and washed it down with tea. He was going to have a word with Ozpin about a new breakfast menu, especially some healthier additions he would happily recommend.

"Hello," a feminine voice greeted as she sat down with a tray beside the ninja. Pyrrha, if he remembered correctly. She was joined by her three other comrades. "Nice to see you again, Sasuke." He nodded back to her.

A loud smack was heard, and Sasuke saw that Jaune decided to join the ritual of slamming his face on the table with a groan. Considering the poor examples he's been seeing this morning, perhaps Sasuke should avoid identifying himself as a Huntsman if anyone asked.

"Pyrrha didn't want us to be late again, so she woke us up early," Ren explained with amusement at Jaune's behest. "Our leader has not taken the new schedule well."

Jaune was the leader? Sasuke couldn't fathom why, but perhaps this boy shared the good qualities with Naruto as well rather than just appearance. Even though the groaning wasn't helping his opinion on the matter.

"So, Sasuke, did the headmaster arrange for you to be a student here?" Pyrrha asked, noticing his uniform. "I thought they sent people like you to the authorities to get you properly placed."

People like him as in an alien? He doubted she meant it like that. Although that might've been the proper procedure if they knew; not that he would've allowed them. "I was offered to study here among you until I assimilate, to which I accepted it with a few special conditions set. Essentially more freedom to move around and familiarize with the area," the Uchiha said the last bit before they asked.

"What's it like where you're from, anyway?" Yang asked, leaning in to hear his answer. "Not many villages out there that can make decent fighters, so it's gotta be interesting to make young Huntsmen like you."

The difference in doctrine repeated in the Uchiha's mind. "I do not feel comfortable sharing that information," he answered to her disappointment. "All I can say is that we were rather reclusive to the point we didn't know you people even existed." It was a truth, wasn't it? None back home knew of these Remnant people.

"You said 'were'," Blake said with furrowed brows, to which Sasuke was thankful someone caught the deceptive word, and just frowned towards her for the added effect. Her widened eyes said it worked. "Oh. I. . . I'm sorry."

"I don't want to talk about it," he told them as the grim mood set it. That should help deterring them from asking for the near future, Sasuke thought. But for their sake, he changed the conversation. "Peter Port's class is next for you as myself. What's it like?"

"Oh, umm. It's so boring it's like I could die," Yang responded and cringed immediately after at her own words. There was also the added effect from Ruby kicking her shin under the table. "Sorry."

He may have started it, but they continued it after even diverting from it, so he let the awkward silence continue. The Uchiha used the quiet to continue his meal and recalled Yang's description of Port's class, which bade well since he noticed Naruto and she seemed to share enough similarities in personality.

If she found it boring, it had to be informative.

* * *

 _'I regret this greatly,'_ Sasuke thought as he _attempted_ to massage away the irritation, while the mustached man in front of him rattled on about some achievement or other. _'Why did I choose the front seat?'_ To hear the man clearly, of course, but now that wasn't an advantage; he discovered that an hour ago when class started.

"-so I wrapped my legs around the Ursa's neck, grabbed the two Beowolves' throats in each hand, and killed the three of them with my newly invented Death Pirouette," Peter continued with exaggerated gestures and poses, before finally standing up straight into a more respectable position. "When I got back, the village announced an annual parade in my honor that continues to this day. Well then, that's all we have time for now, sadly. Class dismissed, and remember to remain vigilant!"

Grimm Studies, a supposed class meant to teach about Grimm itself as the name implied, but then the first five minutes had told the Uchiha otherwise. He had the sneaking suspicion that Ozpin knew he had to make classes a strong part of the deal to make sure he doesn't skip these as often.

A clone should suit this class just fine, he just wished he wouldn't get the memory of it. That's what Sasuke was thinking as he briskly walked out of the classroom. The thoughts of future classes weren't pleasant after that one, and hoped this mustached fool was a one-off.

"Yeesh, I know that class was bad, but you look like you got it worse than we did," Yang said as she walked up beside him, and likely noticed his sour look. "I guess that's what you get for taking the front seat on your first day."

"That was not a class," he almost growled out. "It's a waste of time. I was hoping to see scientific information about Grimm, but instead got fanciful stories from a bad children's novel." Iruka, Kakashi, and Orochimaru were far better teachers than this fool. Hell, even Guy would've been a better teacher!

"Well, I wouldn't go that far," Yang defended, but a sideways stare from Sasuke changed her tune. "Okay, maybe not with those particular words." The Uchiha had harsher words still if she wished for some inspiration.

Whether or not Grimm could appear in his world was still an unknown, but it was more of lack of information from Remnant's side. _'Then why have a Grimm Studies class in the first place?'_ They seemed to be as archaic as Aura, which was frustrating to see.

Still, finding out that information was just a precaution, not a necessity. It was highly unlikely that such creatures appear in the Elemental Nations. Then again, it was even more unlikely for him to be in a world he could survive in with fellow humans, and very similar non-humans, who spoke the same language with his last random dimension hop. . .

"I'll be going to that class the least," Sasuke said, more to himself than anything. _'Was this how Naruto saw Iruka's class? At least he taught something.'_ He was thankful for his extra freedom as a non-student.

"You can do that?" Yang asked, full of hope. "Can I join you?" It wasn't just him who would look forward to less of Grimm Studies, it seemed.

He shrugged. "You should speak to your headmaster for that." Her deflation said she knew what the answer was going to be. Maybe some words of encouragement would assist, but Peter's class wasn't one where words would help.

Walking up behind him with a hand on her face, Weiss said, "I don't understand. Last night when I spoke with him he seemed so. . . teacher-esque?" She was uncertain even as she said it. "But surely he's a worthy professor. Why else would the headmaster hire him?" Sasuke asked himself the same thing.

That wasn't all he wondered about, though, especially when he saw Ruby and that Blake girl walk up to him. Yes, he had helped their leader a little, but was that all it took for them to warm up to him? Surely that wasn't it. Still, they weren't a bothersome company, and seemed to have deterred other women from walking up to him at the sight of four young women at his side.

"There, there, Weiss," Ruby said as she patted her back, and Weiss even looked thankful at the support. "Maybe another of your hallucinations will come true next time."

How fast a face of gratitude changed to one of anger was surprising. "I wasn't hallucinating!" the heiress shouted. "I talked with him and told me how I should be the best teammate and everything."

"Sure, Weiss, sure."

Weiss glared and bristled at her partner, but other than that, she stayed quiet. How'd these two even end up on the same team? Sasuke doubted it was by choice, even he wasn't put on team seven by choice. Still, the proclaimed heiress was doing what she could to be a teammate, and Ruby was being herself. Whether that's a good or bad thing remains to be seen.

" _Wah!_ " someone shouted behind them. When they looked, it was Jaune on the floor, and a large, brown-haired teen who whistled as he walked ahead of him. He was then picked up by his redheaded teammate, who glared at the assailants back.

Ah, bullying, something he hasn't seen outside of his schooldays more than a decade ago, mostly targeting Naruto. It's almost nostalgic. And since he had too many visual similarities with Naruto, Jaune might be the king of Vale in the near future. . . the thought was surprisingly horrifying for someone he didn't know much about.

"Despicable," he heard Pyrrha say as she glared at the boys back just before she helped Jaune up. At least he had friends to help him, Naruto had to endure so by himself.

For example, when the orange-haired girl was theatrically raising her sleeve and marched quickly to the assailant with a promise of pain, Sasuke knew Jaune was in good hands, especially when the Ren held her back to show calm reason.

Again, he reminded himself, a bunch of misfits with odd quirks.

Said bunch of misfits walked to them, with the blonde one looking increasingly awkward. "Hey guys, what's up?" Ah, the 'casual' dismissal of what happened. Well, it wasn't Sasuke's problem, and the boy had more than enough people willing to help.

"I would've thought you people would fight together when you're surrounded by monsters," Sasuke commented. Maybe the situation wasn't so grim. . . He's glad he hadn't said that part out loud.

"Not even monsters will stop people from being assholes," Yang commented, then looked to her fellow blonde. "You alright there, Jaune?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" the boy said as he rubbed the back of his head with a weak laugh, but that stopped quick from the looks he received. "Okay, look, that was just an accident, I'm sure of it. So don't worry about it, okay?"

Clearly Jaune wanted this to be overlooked, whether he was used to it or not wanting to cause problems, he had his reasons, however counterproductive they might be. And even though his own teammates weren't happy, they let it go. For now, anyway.

"Should I expect anything from Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck?" he asked as they walked to his next class with the teams RWBY and JNPR. History, taught by the green haired man from before, he prayed that it wouldn't be a travesty as Port's.

Yang was the one who answered. "Hyperactive, fast, hard to keep up with. You know, the usual teacher," she said sarcastically. "Now imagine all that with a barrel of pure caffeine added to the mix." Huh, maybe Guy had relative in this world.

"He's not so bad," Pyrrha said. "Though what Yang said holds some truth. . ." She muttered that one.

He'd find out soon enough, and just when Sasuke entered the classroom, it was identical minus the drawing on the walls. Now that he thought of it, if Grimm disappeared when they died, how did Professor Port get schematics of the creatures? Guess work, dissection when they were alive, or perhaps it was just a lie. . . Port's fanciful stories might've told him the answer.

"Ah, Mr. Uchiha, pleasure to have you in my class. I was worried I wouldn't be seeing you today," Dr. Oobleck said politely. Yang was right about his hyperactivity. "Perhaps we can both learn from each other during your stay."

"Just as I have learned you came to spy on me in the library on the headmaster's behest." The mood in the room quickly became a little tense, especially from the group he came in with. He wasn't particularly upset or angry of Oobleck, and his actions were quickly forgiven, but not forgotten. At least he was on the better end of the deal, regardless of what Ozpin thought.

The man cleared his throat. "Would you believe me if I said I was going to meet with you regardless?" No, but he didn't care anymore since the end result was more so in his favor. The answer must've been obvious on Sasuke's silence, since Oobleck slowly nodded with acceptance. "I see. I do apologize for that, but since things are as they are, why don't you go take a seat, we'll begin class shortly."

Now that he could agree with, more so because the man didn't seem as boisterous as his mustached colleague, though as eccentric. He first spoke of the history of Vale, how its kingdom came to be, how its relation with Mantle and Mistral, with Vale's only ally when war came was Vacuo. General history.

All useless information, though that was because he already read about it in the library, but this teacher was fairly competent, especially when compared to Port. While useless for the time being, Sasuke didn't doubt that down the line he'd learn more, and should he have any questions, he'd be sure to ask. As rare as it would be since he cared little for this place he intended to leave.

When Dr. Oobleck asked if there were any questions, Sasuke had nothing to ask. If the subject came to Dust, then he had a few questions, but it wasn't the time.

Of all the things this world had, Dust was most fascinating. While others were that of the elements, there were more variations of it in crystalized form, some even took the qualities of gravity. Utterly fascinating. In the books about Aura and Dust, there were mentions of magic, but Sasuke hadn't taken that part seriously. Perhaps he should look more into it.

The class ended with little to no trouble, although what issues there were was because of a few students who felt the need to sleep in the middle of the lesson. Ruby and Jaune being on the forefront of Dr. Oobleck's effort to wake them up.

"I understand you're still new to this, so I will let you two go for now," Bartholomew said sternly to the two leaders. "I pray you two learn history to understand its importance, so I'd refrain of sleeping during my class. Is that understood?" The two nodded with a quick 'Yessir'. "Good, now off you go." The man transformed into a blur as he ran passed the Uchiha.

Two teachers met, both of which were eccentric. He wondered what kind of character his next teacher would be, hopefully someone at least leaning on the side of normal. Well, it doesn't matter since it was now free period for whoever to do whatever.

"So, Oobleck spied on you, ey?" Yang said beside him as he got up to leave. "Gonna have to say that's pretty creepy for a teacher to do. Should I be keeping an eye out?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Ozpin was wary of my appearance here, so he had me watched in case I tried anything suspicious. Fortunately, I'm allowed to stay for the time being thanks to Dr. Oobleck sating the headmaster's concern." At least to degree. He doubted he had free reign just yet.

"Good to know. At least you weren't given a wink from Port. No. . . just no," she said with a shiver, then saw Sasuke leave. "Hey, what're you doing for free period?"

"I was going to go walk around Vale and tour the city." And steal some lien to buy some Dust, he refrained from adding. He was also going to create some clones to do the job for him. If anyone found out about the money, he'd just say he sold some of his own items. Maybe gems to explain the amount.

" _Aww_ , I was really hoping you'd play Remnant: The Game with us. Ah well, maybe next time." Whatever it was, Sasuke just nodded. "Great, but just to let you know, I won't be going easy on you just cuz you're new." She winked at him before going to comfort her sister from Weiss' added chiding.

With that said and done, he left the classroom and made his way to the port of Beacon. Sasuke also intended to summon Tatsuya again after all the classes were over and done with. It was time to hear some news from the White Snake Sage.

* * *

The second time he went down to Vale via the bullhead, Sasuke found out that it didn't get any better. Second time going back to Beacon could be argued was better, but knowing you were going higher and higher still with no knowledge within a metal box made things worse.

 _'This is ridiculous,'_ Sasuke thought angrily as he entered his room. Flying was easy, he did all the time when traveling on top of Garuda back home, so this should be nothing.

But metal boxes don't fly, a coffin in the air where you can't control it, and the only way to see outside was through a small hole.

He growled away the thought, but all it brought was embarrassment that it affected him that much. It'll get better the more you ride it, he told himself, but it just annoyed him even more at the prospect of using that infernal machine even more.

He clicked his tongue and rid away anymore thoughts of Remnant's bastardized version of flying. Instead, he reviewed his little incursion into the capitol.

During his trip to Vale, he set up a source of income of lien. Not much, but enough to not really lack anything necessary. Should Ozpin kick him out of Beacon campus, then his clones would have procured enough money to live in some inn or other. Nothing too expensive, obviously. Pickpocketing didn't bring in enough to live a life of luxury for even a moderate amount of time, but it was enough to purchase a small variety of Dust, and soon he would special order some books from that clerk, Tucson.

One little surprise was that one of the largest suppliers of Dust was the Schnee Dust Company, a massive conglomerate owned by the Schnee family, one member of the family happened to be at Beacon, one he made black out, one who thanked him for his help of her teammate.

 _'Reckless and dangerous,'_ Sasuke thought, remembering that white-haired girl from before. A family member of one of the largest Dust suppliers painted a massive target on their backs to kidnappers, hence why such rich families tended to have a private army around them. But perhaps this wasn't so different. She was in an academy full of warriors, after all.

Them being mostly students, notwithstanding.

In the end, it wasn't his problem, if it was even a problem to begin with. He had his own predicament to think about.

He didn't waste any more time as he drew blood from his thumb, and summoned Tatsuya one more. For the second time in his life, the snake showed itself on Remnant once more.

"Hmm, summoner?" the familiar snake asked in confusion, then settled on his eyes. "I bring you news from your den and Ryūchi Cave." So a message from the White Snake Sage and one likely from Kakashi, or more likely Naruto. Tatsuya didn't wait. "The leader from your den says that they will work with the Wise Elder to bring you home, and that this Naruto person wanted me to tell you that he wants to 'beat some sense into you for being an idiot', he says." The snake was far from amused.

Sasuke nodded, though he was the one who's amused. "Make sure to tell them I'll get back. I have no intention of staying on this world longer than I have to. I won't be repeating past mistakes and abandon my comrades." The snake hissed in understanding, still unamused. "And what of the Wise Elder?"

This one, Tatsuya paused. There weren't much expressions on snakes, but this was one of those rare moments you understood it was bad news. Bad news wasn't something you wanted when stranded on a different world.

"The Wise Elder found several, ancient scrolls referencing precise dimensional travel," the green snake began, which sounded good, but then it took a turn. "However, the energy required is tremendous. Hundreds of thousands of souls would be needed to power the seal."

Sasuke's gut wrenched. "No village would accept that," he said, worried. "There must be another way. What of the Bijū, surely they'd donate energy if Naruto asked of them."

"Still not enough." Tatsuya tilted his head higher, as though recounting more information. "Souls are far stronger than Chakra, and even if the ninjas of an entire village came to donate their Chakra, it still wouldn't be close to enough to rip a hole through space and time directly to your position." He hissed. "The Sage is still searching his archives for more helpful seals, but all demanded energy, and souls are the strongest candidate for that."

 _Energy_ is needed. Souls are the strongest _candidate_. . . it wasn't required.

"I think I have a solution," Sasuke said, moving to a pack he 'borrowed' and placed the Dust he had bought in. "In this world, there is a material here called Dust. They take on the power of elements and others." He brought a small crystal of fire Dust, and a vial of refined lightning Dust. "Suppose I send this ore back with you to power the seal, will the Sage be able to use it?"

Tatsuya hummed. "Wise Elder says only energy is needed, he didn't say anything about it being strictly souls." He looked to the Dust in Sasuke's hands. "Let me take these to him, and see what he thinks." Sasuke nodded, allowing the snake to open its elastic mouth and swallowing the Dust whole. "I've no doubt it would take a while to test these. Call upon me again in a week's time." At his nod, Tatsuya vanished.

The Uchiha laid on the bed, a little more exhausted than he thought. Hundreds of thousands of souls? It was insanity if anyone allowed their people to pay that price. He was fortunate to be here where energy is essentially crystalized, mined, and refined.

He'd need more. Alot more.

He could steal some more money with his new pickpocketing ring, but how much would that earn him? A few hundred a day at best? To slow. Bounties? Too much time for each payout. Hired assassin? Now that would work, black market jobs always pay well, extremely well, but he needed a contact.

He had one.

Sasuke shook his head. _'This is all too damn convenient.'_ Not a day ago, this Neopolitan character wanted to hire him, paying him in anything, and she herself said 'Dust', if he so wanted. Now he might need more Dust to get back him. . . This could not be real.

He brought up his issued Scroll, and browsed through the applications, or apps as Ruby called it when she taught him the basic handling of it, and opened the contacts list. There weren't many names on it. There was Tucson who added himself, and Neopolitan who Sasuke added after learning how.

Was it a bad idea? Illegitimate work always held a risk, so this could easily put him in even worse position should things go south. The risk, however, is always followed by a reward that's proportionate in size.

It wasn't a question if it was a bad idea, it was that he had to.

Pressing the name 'Neopolitan', it immediately began to ring. He held it in front of his face as instructed, and waited. Thoughts immediately drifted to what kind of things he'd need to do to acquire the amount of Dust he needed.

If it was to get back home, then so be it.

A familiar and unwelcome face appeared on screen. Pink and brown hair, cream and brown eyes, though that part was debatable.

She smirked when she saw who it was. " _You know, you shouldn't keep a lady waiting,_ " she said mockingly. " _So, to what do I owe for this call?_ "

He subtly took in a deep breath, then exhaled. "I'm looking to acquire Dust in large quantities as quickly as possible. That is my terms."

The woman quirked her brow, mirth still there. " _Not even a hello? And aren't you all demanding. Tell me, what are you willing to do for your precious Dust?_ "

The answer couldn't have been easier.

"Anything."

* * *

 **Neo talks here, I know, I suck. I truly thought she was able to talk. She has a voice actress, damn it!**

 **Trivia:**

 **1-As I was brainstorming this story, the real main character was going to be Sasori, but thought Sasuke would do the things I need to make this story as I wanted. I have different plans for our favorite puppeteer. Yes, he's your favorite too, NO ARGUMENTS!**

 **2-Initially during the first outline, Sasuke was supposed to read a storybook that talks about interdimensional travel that he'll use. Of course, that sounded fucking stupid and not something he would take seriously. Seals as a way home sounds much more believable for him to trust.**

 **3-I instantly grew a beard after fighting three bears and winning. For those who don't know, this was an old trivia that I thought was funny. . . it still is.**

 **Pancake is love, pancake is life. Cinnamon toast is also the most amazing thing ever! Sasuke doesn't know what he's talking about, the fool!**


	4. Don't Trust Somebody Who Can't Trust You

.

 **Chapter 4, the final remaster!**

 **Oh my** _ **Gawwwwd**_ **, rewriting sucks! Never again, if a story sucks, I'll leave it sucking. . . okay, maybe not. Like this chapter, I need to do a time skip too large for me to be comfortable, but I need it to happen. Why? Because I suck.**

* * *

 **There Were No Rhyming Lines In These Chapters; It Was Just For Fun, But To My New Shtick It Matters!**

* * *

 **Chapter Four: Don't Trust Somebody Who Can't Trust You**

Over the past few weeks, Sasuke had come to learn a certain dynamic with these people, part of which was attending classes with his fellow students. The reminder he was a student has always been an underwhelming thought. A warrior who fought a goddess, back to being a student.

And being in the cafeteria for breakfast always brought that thought out. Fortunately, plans were being made to get back home. Unfortunately, it would take alot of time and resources, namely a monumental amount of Dust, enough to rip a hole through realities and connect them.

So here he was, sitting in a school cafeteria waiting for the call from Neopolitan to start collecting Dust. Sadly, she had to run it by some of her colleagues, so it was a waiting game until then.

A waiting game with some bran muffins.

"How could you still be eating those?" Yang complained, still groggy from her early wake up. Though it seemed she started getting used to it, especially the past couple of days. Sasuke only noticed when there were less faces slamming onto the table. "I took a bite out of one, and I could almost swear I wasn't eating anything."

Her constant jokes on it was practically routine. 'Hey, how does air taste?' 'Best diet, zero calories since it doesn't really exist' 'I've seen other brown things that looked more appealing than that', and so forth. He hoped she'd run out, but all it did was prompt jokes like the last one, and forced him to knock her out using his Sharingan.

She woke up five minutes later promising to be more creative next time, so he put up with it.

"What are the chances of a quiet breakfast?" he asked her.

The Schnee girl sitting beside her sighed. "Not from the list I saw her make." Yang squawked into denials of such a claim. "Dare I say it, she intends to keep this going for months."

Maybe putting himself with this lot was a mistake, but from the complete lack of other students coming to bother him made it worth it. Besides, they weren't bad people, just. . . they're not _his_ people. At least they deterred that new club, the 'Sasuke Uchiha Can Claim Club', or just the SUCC club, the name being horrendous and more than perverse enough.

Damn them all.

"Then how about a bet?" Yang suggested. "You actually fight in Combat Class against me, and I'll keep quiet, how about that?" Almost every Combat Class held a few spars, and later Glynda would criticize them all.

As she should, because they were terrible.

"I have no interest in participating Combat Class with students," he told her with a shrug. "Live a month in lands full of Grimm, then I'll consider a spar with you." Part of the story was that he wandered the lands in search of a town for weeks, and the constant state of battle turned him into a battle-hardened Huntsman.

Obviously, that was the lie Sasuke had told Professor Goodwitch when theoretical teaching became actual combat. Honestly, Sasuke was actually looking forward it, but then a certain aspect came up, the reading of Aura levels, something _he did not_ have.

There might as well have been alarms blaring when he heard that.

"That's a load of bull, you just don't want to go against me," Yang challenged. "Don't worry, I won't bite."

"Pretty sure that's illegal in a spar, anyway," Ruby pointed out while devouring another plate of cookies. . . for breakfast. It's almost as bad as Naruto's damn ramen addiction. "Though I'm not sure if Goodwitch is going to put up with Sasuke not taking part for long." She said it so plainly like it was an afterthought.

Sasuke looked to the young girl. "What do you mean by that?" he asked. He used his position as pseudo-student to steer clear from combat until he made a proper excuse why his Aura reading was bizarre, backed with proof to dismiss any chance that it could be a lie. He had an idea, but it's a bit of a work in progress.

"Hmm?" She took a bite out of her cookie and turned to him. "You don't see how much Professor Goodwitch glares at you when you deny taking part in her class? I'm surprised there's no hole on the back of your head."

Well, he did notice the glares for practically demeaning her class as 'not worth it', but he didn't think Goodwitch would bring it up. He attended the class, as per their agreement, but perhaps he should move it further to avoid any complications.

Besides, he wanted to see what it would be like against Aura users.

He sighed and took another sip of his tea. "Then I might as well. . ." he muttered. He had an excuse, it just might not be a very good one. He could postpone it all he wanted, but at some point people would find it suspicious, so perhaps today was the day he put himself in control of what they find.

Yang perked up on that. For someone with a lot of hair around her ears, she certainly hears pretty well. "So you're gonna fight?"

"I'll think about it."

She shrugged, but that grin on her face was almost from ear to ear. "Good enough for me. If I turn out to be your opponent, you can bet I ain't pulling any punches."

 _'And if I didn't, you'd die,'_ he thought. Maybe he was underestimating them, maybe they did have an advantage with their Aura that he didn't know about, but he was a fully trained and hardened shinobi, while they were still students who never fought for their lives. Needless to say, the odds had to be in his favor.

"Though I am curious why you don't take part," Blake voiced, sipping her own cup of tea. While his relation with Weiss might be considered the frostiest of the group, Blake was a very close second. Perhaps she hadn't forgiven him for his interrogation as his first impression for her.

Sasuke shrugged. "I have several years of experience more than any of you, it would be unfair," he said, implying his age, but more subtly at the truth.

" _Heh_ , just you wait," Yang replied, cracking her knuckles with that wide smile of hers. It was a little nostalgic having a blonde say they're desire to fight him.

Another tray set itself beside him as a new group joined their table. Along with team RWBY, it seemed the other team he met when he first came here seemed to take a liking to him as well. JNPR joined him and team RWBY almost every morning these past few weeks, and even in similar classes with him.

Sasuke partly wondered if Ozpin had a hand in such a 'coincidence'.

"Good morning," Pyrrha greeted energetically. Her three other teammates joined, her team leader slumping into his seat without even half the redhead's energy. "Who's going to wait for what?"

"Sasuke says he might join today's Combat Class," Yang said. "You can look forward to that, Miss Invincible."

Pyrrha winced slightly at her title, but Sasuke saw it was accurate, since the redhead won against every opponent with ease. None could even touch her, only come close before she destroyed them. He had to admit, if there was one person of these his company he would rather fight, it'd have to be her.

He might've scoffed at the news that she was a several-year champion of a tournament in Mistral, but watching her fight her peers had shown she certainly earned that title of hers. Though if he was put in an arena with her, he'd gladly take that away.

"Is that so?" Pyrrha asked Sasuke, who shrugged. "Well, I guess today's lesson might be something to look forward to."

"Speak for yourself," Jaune mumbled as he took a bite of his apple. Of all the people Sasuke had seen fight, Jaune was by far the weakest, the most untrained, easily the most _pathetic_ of the group. He'd better have some leadership skills, otherwise him being here in Beacon was pointless and dangerous to his team and himself.

Nora, ever the supporter, patted him on the back hard enough to have him spit out his food. "Don't worry, Jauney, you'll win one at some point," she said, though he didn't look convinced at her reassurance. Neither did Sasuke, for that matter. The boy was weak, horribly so.

"Thanks, Nora," he said, his tone showing his pessimistic thoughts. "Though with Sasuke joining, I don't think I like my odds." His odds were horrible regardless.

"Be that as it may," Sasuke said to veer away the conversation. "I doubt I'd find a decent opponent, at least among first-years." He wasn't particularly competitive, but if he was going to test Aura-users, it's best to fight a skillful one who understands how to use it.

"Keep talking, buddy, we'll see how today goes for ya," Yang said, her own competitive nature popping out. He hadn't even confirmed he was joining, yet she was treating it like it was a promise. Maybe he should, it was all a matter of time, anyway.

An urge hit him that had him say, "you honestly think you can fight me, don't you?" Why was he goading her? There was no point to it other than it felt like something he _should_ say. Was it the blonde hair? It was, wasn't it?

Yang began cracking her knuckles, her grin more feral than before. "Watch yourself, Sasuke, the higher you build yourself, the longer you fall, and boy do I think I have an axe." He knew that from experience, just as he should know that she wasn't the person he was projecting her as. That was a dangerous rabbit hole, one he shouldn't fuel.

He didn't respond, merely drinking his tea before he said something similar to before. Her personality was very similar to Naruto, that cocky, easily excitable attitude was nostalgic, that's all, and being blonde was enough to add to it. _'I'm not seeing Yang as Naruto,'_ he assured himself. It was a lapse in judgement, nothing more.

"Okay, let's calm Yang down before she starts throwing punches," Weiss quickly said, and turned to the Uchiha. "Though I do have agree that arrogance isn't a trait worth having." She would know, wouldn't she? Though the difference was he could back it up.

Then it wasn't arrogance, it was confidence.

He sighed. "Be that as it may, I have experience in combat while you are still students."

Ruby raised her arm. "I fought a world famous criminal," she informed. "Roman Torchwick, you might've heard of him, he's like, _super_ infamous." Was she praising herself or this Roman character?

"The same fight Miss Goodwitch had to _mmfgr_ -!?" Yang couldn't finish before Ruby's hand quickly covered her mouth.

"Yes, you are right, Yang, it was indeed a dangerous situation where I emerged victorious," Ruby said with emphasis on nearly every word. "Truly, a mark of a great hero, and not as though just some student." She then moved in to whisper something about 'stealing thunder'.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and continued eating his bran muffin. There was more to his confidence though. These people here lived rather calm lives in comparison, though them being completely surrounded by Grimm should be a bigger problem. Why were people not accelerating military research? Why was economy more important? Why were they late in training Huntsmen? It was perhaps a difference in societies, but he'd wager something had to be going on, something _always_ seemed to be going on.

Thankfully it had nothing to do with him, unlike previously when he uncovered a conspiracy that involved even his past lives. This time, he'd leave it be.

* * *

Port's class was the same nightmare told in a different manner, as it always had been the weeks he'd been visiting. For what it's worth, it was a good time to think while 'assimilating' into Ozpin's program. Granted, he needed to tune out the professor, but the time with Naruto had taught him to be a master at the art. But that didn't stop Sasuke from leaving the class with the same animosity towards it.

Oobleck's class had proven his own initial thoughts correct, however. As time went on and passed information Sasuke already knew, they finally delved into new information for him. Though mostly history, Oobleck held more information that his research didn't mention, proving his class worthwhile.

Peach's class was better off unmentioned.

The only other class worth mentioning was Professor Goodwitch's Combat Class. At first, it was purely theoretical, mostly discussion about combat, safety measures during spars, and what she would do if you were 'overzealous' in a fight. Useful for beginners, not useful for him.

Actual spars were coming, Goodwitch said so herself, which had the Uchiha excited in poking and prodding the limits of Aura for himself, then he had to hold off. Aura levels could be measured using the Scroll, only one of which he had.

When he checked his 'Aura level', the response was, as expected, not good if they ever find out. He'd been dismissing Glynda's attempts to get him to join for a while, and she was getting more and more visibly upset for what seemed to be him demeaning her course.

"You wish to join today's spars?" Glynda asked, her face a little perplexed at his request. "While I wouldn't deny it, why the change of heart?" He had told her about the difference between the students against his experience back then, which he thought sounded reasonable.

Now he had to give an excuse why his perfectly good reason was moot. It was something he didn't do much, and it was- "I apologize," he said, which was harder to say than expected. "While I believed you were content with my reasons, it seems I showed myself as above your lessons, and I assure you it isn't the case." The words hurt to say. "To make up for it, I would like to be placed in the upcoming spars."

Glynda looked perplexed, maybe even a little surprised. He could almost hear Naruto sniggering at his newfound humility, even through dimensions standing outside of Glynda's classroom. "I see," she said as she moved her glasses back in place. "I'll add you the roster then." Sasuke nodded and moved to enter the room. "Mr. Uchiha." He turned at her call. "Do take it easy on them, they're only students, after all."

Was that amusement in her tone? A trick of the mind, surely. "You believed me from the beginning?"

"I heard from Headmaster Ozpin what you went through," she said with a nod. "It would be foolish to think you haven't fought for far longer than your new peers. Even I understand experience trumps unrefined talent."

Her words spoke of her own experience, but there was one thing on his mind still. "So you weren't upset I denied taking part in your class?"

"I've no clue what you're talking about." She did, she very much did. He could see it clear as day, even through absolute denial of such a claim. "While you're early, you can take a seat until your classmates arrive." And now she's deflecting.

Sasuke shrugged and walked into the classroom a few minutes before the first student should arrive and took a seat near the door, high up among the rows of tables and chairs. It was his preferred spot to watch his 'peers' fight, more so to analyze their fighting style, which proved pointless as they were extremely diverse.

Very few had similar move sets, from complex gun fighting to hand-to-hand combat, almost each one had their own style, one Sasuke found cumbersome when he tried finding a pattern. The only thing consistent was their Aura use, which was _barely_ an active part of their fighting styles without using their Semblances and smaller techniques.

As students began filing in, he remembered when he discreetly used the Rinnegan to see if Aura appeared differently than when he used Sharingan, and the results weren't as he expected. While the Sharingan showed a kind of haze surrounding them, the Rinnegan showed them highlighted with _glowing_ energy.

That was an advantage if he ever saw one.

"Yo, Sasuke," he heard Yang say as she took the seat a level below him. "Should we expect to see a fight from you?"

"Maybe," he replied. "You'll just have to wait and see."

"So that's a yes, then." Shrugging was his only response. "You're not going to cheat and knock people out with your mind tricks, are you?" He shook his head. That would defeat the purpose of testing how he'd fair with Aura users. "Good, because I'd rather not deal with that bullshit when I fight you." So much confidence based on nothing, she was almost exactly like the younger version of Naruto, wasn't she?

"You know there's more than you in this class, right?" Ruby interjected and gestured to her teammate with a sigh. "Weiss, please explain to our teammate that thing you told me about." Again with that weird tone. . .

The girl blinked. "You mean statistics?" The younger girl nodded. "How about no?"

"You see, Yang," Ruby began, ignoring her now-indignant partner. "According to Weiss-" "Don't drag me into this!" "- statistically speaking, the chances of you being his sparring partner is very slim."

Yang rolled her eyes at her sister. "Sure, Ruby, I get it, but you really don't have to talk like that to impress Sasuke. I'm pretty sure he likes you anyway." She turned to him. "Though not too much, I hope." No, definitely not in that way. She nodded at the look on his face.

"Y-Yang! That was _not_ what I meant!" she said, her face a little redder than before, then she crossed her arms and _attempted_ to look like Goodwitch to her sister. "I'm merely showing I'm better than I was the day before, smarter and faster and such. You know, as a proper leader should." She'd been saying similar things for the past few weeks. Good for her, he supposed.

She seemed to be taking what he said in the library to heart, as she was rather proud enough to show on select occasions. If what he said truly did help and she's improving herself, then Sasuke didn't really have anything to say.

A loud smack from the front was heard, Glynda's rather commanding aura took over the room rather quickly, even through the sisters' loud argument. She taught her students well and knew how to handle them, he noticed, a proper mark for a teacher. Even if she didn't teach him anything worthwhile.

"Today we'll continue sparring," Professor Goodwitch began after Yang and Ruby sat down. "We'll roll for the sparring partners and see how you've improved yourselves." From how they saw their previous fights, he doubted there was substantial improvements so quickly.

The screen above them rolled, then stopped on two students, Blake Belladonna and some other student he didn't bother remembering. As they both went to the center stage, another thing came to mind.

Apparently, sans Jaune, the group of students he put himself with were of the best among first years. Of the people he'd seen, they were indeed better, constantly winning their fights unless it's with each other.

To the side, he spotted team JNPR, Pyrrha spotted him and waved, he nodded in return. She was especially strong, clearly standing above everyone she ever faced, and not a single person was able to even touch her. It was then he understood her situation, she was a prodigy, a genius at a young age.

Really, she was his best choice in a fight.

Before he realized, Blake emerged as the winner. She was good, very good, it didn't take a genius to understand she held some experience in combat, not just training. Her speed and Semblance went hand in hand with her baiting tactics.

"Well done, both of you," Glynda said, then turned to the other student. "Byrn, you need to learn new tactics when facing the same strategy. Learn to adapt or you will always fall." The tall boy grumbled, but didn't dare say otherwise. She turned to his sparring partner. "Blake, while your tactics worked this time, don't expect it to work all the time."

Belladonna nodded before going back to her seat, but clearly didn't take her words to heart. Glynda noticed and frowned, but made no more additions. Her words were one of warning, that regardless if Blake won, she shouldn't take this as the standard. What Goodwitch said to Byrn, she also said to Blake.

Names and faces rolled again, stopping on two he didn't know. The first few seconds of the fight was all he needed to see before he tuned it out of his mind. He wondered if second years or above have better fights, he'd like to assume so, otherwise these people were doomed.

"Stop," Professor Goodwitch shouted before either of their Aura's went red, looking as disappointed as she should be. "Both of you kept dancing around. In the next spar, I expect both of you to take it seriously regardless of your Aura level." Sasuke could only nod at her criticism.

It wasn't wrong to be wary of your energy, but both were throwing haphazard strikes could only last for long, and thankfully the instructor had enough and ended the fight prematurely. Now the two walked back with heads low to their seats.

The teacher tapped her Scroll and had the names scrolling. The first name stopped, having the audience let out a sound of wonderment. Sasuke Uchiha was on the board, the second name still scrolling for a name.

He looked to Pyrrha, who widened her eyes and looked to him. When he nodded to her, he knew she understood who he wished to fight. The girl looked taken aback, but nodded in return.

The second name stopped, having the class go in a bit of an uproar at who his opponent was going to be. Yang's own booing was particularly loud.

Glynda nodded. "Sasuke Uchiha, Weiss Schnee, come to the stage."

Sighing in disappointment, Sasuke got up and walked down the steps. Kusanagi that was in his hands now tucked into the rope on his back waist. At least it wasn't Jaune, which was the only thing he could tell himself.

He took his spot across from Weiss, who reached the stage before him, swinging her thin blade around in exercise. She struck a pose, her sword taking its spot beside her face and aimed at him. Her standard stance that he saw her take before.

Above them on the screen, he could see her Aura meter fill to the green, and he didn't bother looking at his, he knew the result. When he heard sounds of confusion, he looked to the sound of furious tapping, it was Glynda hammering on her Scroll to fix the issue.

There was no fixing this one.

Above him, just like he saw on his own time, the meter that was supposed to show his Aura went haywire, blinking from full to empty then back to full constantly. He didn't have Aura, but he guessed that his Scroll seemed to be picking up that he had _something_ , but it wasn't what it should be. All in all, the fact this Scroll device could even pick up on that was marvel of its own.

Now to see if people here don't figure out he's an alien.

The professor looked more frustrated after each passing second, then the sounds stopped with a low growl from her. She looked to him and called, "Mr. Uchiha, please come to me."

He let out a small breath before making his way to her. "Yes, professor?"

"It seems your Scroll is having difficulty finding your Aura," she said, eyes going back to her own Scroll and handing it to him. "Please hold this, and hand me yours." He nodded, drawing out the device from his pocket and trading it with hers.

Looking at the new Scroll, the Aura meter showed the same flickering gauge, and he knew the screen above him showed the same. Unfortunately, his original Scroll was working just fine.

The professor let out an annoyed huff before switching back their Scrolls. "I won't be able to continue this spar," she said finally. "For some reason, your Aura isn't being picked up by the Scrolls" It was his turn.

Sasuke brought up his arm. "I think. . . I have an idea," he said, adding a 'hesitant' pause. He channeled lightning Chakra to his arm, having visible electricity sparkle across his arm. "Is it possible that my own electric Aura is malfunctioning the Scroll?"

Glynda looked at his arm with fascination and hummed. "It could be the case," she answered, peering closer to his electric arm. "I don't think I've heard of such things, though you might be a unique case considering your Aura's nature." His arm sparked for effect.

Did his lie work? She didn't seem reluctant to accept the idea, so that was a good sign. In fact, she looked more pensive than anything.

"Regardless, I can't have you continue the spar for safety reasons," she said with a sigh. "I won't be able to call off the match if I can't read your Aura."

"That's fine, she won't even be able to touch me," he said, subduing a scoff.

Goodwitch frowned. "Mr. Uchiha, there's a fine line between confidence and arrogance, I pray you know the difference."

He only shrugged. "Then if she lands a single hit on me, call off the match and consider it my loss." If he let some trainee land a finger on him, then he wasn't as skilled as he knew himself to be. Even if he was giving them a handicap.

"You're that confident of your victory?" she asked with a raised brow. Did she forget their discussion not thirty minutes prior? He'd remind her.

"I'm confident in my experience."

Her eyes flickered in recognition, took a breath and stood straight. "Alright, I'll allow it. Take your position."

Sasuke nodded and stood across from Weiss, who held her blade to her side relaxingly. She seemed a little agitated. Perhaps he said how she wouldn't touch him a little too loudly for the proud girl.

"Fighters, prepare yourselves," Glynda said as she took her spot nearby, then looked to Sasuke. "I'll be holding you to our agreement, Mr. Uchiha, I pray you don't test it." He nodded, then she looked to Weiss. "Are you ready?"

She flourished her blade back to the side of her face, the tip pointed towards Sasuke. "I'm ready," she said irritably.

Glynda stepped off stage. "Begin!"

Weiss took the first move flew across the stage. Before the fight started, Sasuke had activated his Sharingan, so when she dashed towards him with intent to pierce his chest, it was very easy to simply side step and trip her. The girl tumbled slightly before standing back up.

She looked angrier than before, but took a breath and calmed herself before returning to her original stance. Among the students he'd seen, she was very mechanical. Trained and trained until her moves were pitch perfect.

This would be an easy fight.

The Uchiha rolled his shoulders and gestured for her to come at him. If she didn't look upset before, she certainly looked murderous now. _'So proud, so easy to sway,'_ he thought

He saw her sword click, then sent several spears of fire his way. His instincts said to use the Preta Path, but there was no guarantee it would absorb an Aura-Dust combination, and that he really didn't want to bring up his Rinnegan, so he opted to dash forward and under the flame.

For all her flaws, Weiss wasn't a fool, she saw his mad dash and replied with one of her own, but she was quicker thanks to her glyphs. Her sword poised to meet him first, not that he'd allow it.

He moved to the side when he were hair's breadth from the tip of her sword, and threw an empowered punch into her midsection before she could stop. He saw spittle come from her mouth before she soared back across the stage

As he waited for her to stand back, he flexed his fist and thought, _'Aura stops cuts from skin, but not blunt force, exactly as the book stated.'_ He knew his punch was cushioned from her shields, but some force went through. He looked to her Aura gauge, ignoring his flickering own. _'Some Aura was taken out, but would more Aura be drained depending on the lethality?'_ He'd need to test that as well.

His kunai shot out of the seal beneath his armband and into his palm. While it would've been suspicious, he thought with so many mechanical weapons it shouldn't raise questions. "I was hoping you wouldn't be done from just that," he told her as he held his knife across him. "Come now, you only need one hit to win. Shouldn't be too difficult if you're skilled."

She poised for an attack once, a heavy scowl on her face, but didn't respond, not verbally anyway. She jumped up into the air, landing on a glyph as though some floating wall, then zipped to another, and another, and another- she was like a fly moving from point to point at blurring speed. If he didn't have his Sharingan active, this might've been an issue.

While he hadn't moved his head, his eyes kept darting from one point to another, leaving his back as bait for- oh, she took it. He backflipped from Schnee's thrust from the rear, and she cried as the kunai slashed across her back, sending her tumbling once more.

At the screen, the chunk of Aura he took was far more noticeable than when he punched her. _'Lethality eats up Aura quickly, likely mutes it before it could cut skin.'_ The more danger a strike posed, the more Aura spent to lessen it, he learned.

But does it have a threshold? Does a focused strike eat away Aura or pierce it? He couldn't safely test that, unfortunately.

Looking to Weiss, she winced as she stood back up, eyes filled with more anger than previously. Looking back to her bar, she was halfway to the red, and Sasuke had one more thing to test.

His kunai shot back into his armband once more, and two plumes of smoke exploded to his sides. "Think you can last for one more bout?" he asked as the smoke dispersed to reveal his two clones.

While she did look angry, there was now more concern at her situation. She had difficulty with one, now there's two more, but it wouldn't have made a difference since she was going to lose anyway.

Instead of yielding, she huffed. "I have more than one bout for you," she said with confidence, flourishing her blade at the ready. "I'm not out for the count yet."

The two clones walked around Weiss, but kept a wide berth. "I applaud your confidence," one said, having Weiss peer her eyes to it. "But this isn't a fight you'll win." Though she already knew that, didn't she?

She scoffed. "Then win, what's taking you so long?"

"I won't take much more of your time, that's a promise," the second one said, then the two clones stopped across from her sides. "In fact, we're done."

She narrowed her eyes at the second clone, then widened in realization as she snapped her back to the original, but it was too late, he was already on her. He aimed a slower punch to her midsection once more, but she dodged to the right, that's when he had her.

She only moved an inch before Sasuke's metal wire stopped thanks to the clone that held the other end of it pulling it taut. He could see her move her rapier to attack once she realized she couldn't move far, but the other clone leapt and grabbed her sword arm before she could.

With her first chance to attack removed, the first copy ran across, having the metal wire wrap around the Schnee girl tightly. Even then, she did have options to attack, he could already see the glyph beneath them forming, but he wouldn't give her the opportunity.

 _' **Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder**_ _ **!**_ _'_ His hand sparked brightly before a heavy torrent of lighting coursed through the wire to hit his target. She screamed and convulsed when the current struck, and continued to do so for several seconds.

She went limp when he cut it off, but caught her before she hit the ground. He threw her over his shoulder, one clone handing him the girl's sword, the other wrapping the metal wire used and handing it to him before the two vanished in clouds of dust.

"Winner, Sasuke Uchiha," Glynda said with a nod, sending the assembled students into a light applause. "Though I'd appreciate if you didn't toy with Miss Schnee during the match." She noticed? It wasn't exactly well hidden, to be honest.

"I'll keep that in mind in the next spar," he replied, then looked to the screen above. While his Aura was still consistently inconsistent between full and empty, Weiss' hadn't dipped that much from his technique. _'Seems some elemental attacks bypass Aura, or at least soft elements like lightning. Would fire have the same effect?'_ An experiment for another time.

He walked to the audience, where Blake was waiting to receive her unconscious teammate. She nodded her head in thanks as she took her teammate, and left to the infirmary.

As he walked up the steps, Sasuke twirled the rapier still in his hand and gently gripped the blade portion. He was surprised how light it was, fitting for Weiss' delicate image, especially when she's without her weapon.

Once close enough, he stuck the weapon's handle out for Ruby to take. "I believe your friend will want this back when she wakes."

She nodded before taking it. "Thanks, Sasuke, I'm sure she'd appreciate the thought. . . kinda," Ruby said bashfully.

Yang beside her snorted. "I'm sure she'll send you flowers with a strongly worded letter filled with 'appreciation'," she said, and turned to Sasuke. "Nice fight, by the way, but don't expect our match to end so quickly. I know your moves now, buster."

 _'No you don't, not even close,'_ he thought. "I look forward to another easy victory, then." Why did he say that? It was unneeded.

As Yang stuck out her tongue in his direction, Sasuke was half tempted to bite his rebellious own. As the names scrolled for the next spar, he lamented on his new slip of the tongue. Perhaps

The first name stopped on some nameless student, as did the other. Another match not worth watching, but a distraction appeared. Pyrrha took it upon herself to get out of her seat and sit next to him.

"That was some match," she began. "It was like you were in control of it from the beginning." Did she come here just to voice her observations? He doubted that

"The Schnee girl was simply too inexperienced. Had she known, she'd have noticed I was egging her on to attack into my traps," he said. "In the end, her pride was her downfall." Not really, the fact she was his opponent was her true downfall.

Pyrrha nodded. "I noticed, though it's more impressive you finished your spar with naught but three attacks without a single hit to your Aura. Maybe when we fight, I'll have better chance." Not in this lifetime, he wanted to say, but instead shrugged.

"Get in line, Pyrrha, I called dibs," Yang quickly said.

The Uchiha rolled his eyes as he watched Goodwitch call the fight after a student was knocked out. He'd seen Yang fight, she wasn't someone who was weak, but she stood no chance against him. She was all brute force, a brawler by every definition of the word, and his abilities and reflexes would give her no quarter.

Pyrrha on the other hand could provide more of a challenge, she and her weapons covered a range of situations that was amplified by her experience in combat. He was confident in his win against her, but it would be a more arduous fight compared to her peers.

The names scrolled again, stopping on one Jaune Arc, he heard the redhead beside him groan and sink deeper into her seat. The Uchiha couldn't really blame her, the boy was pitiful in combat, and from the worried look on his face, he knew it too. Especially when the second name popped up.

"Jaune Arc and Cardin Winchester, come to the stage," Glynda bellowed, uncaring for Arc's impending humiliation.

The blonde boy sighed heavily and reluctantly stood from his seat to reach the stage, while his opponent let out a cruel laugh and made his way eagerly.

"I see Arc has yet to face his problems," Sasuke commented. His bullying was common knowledge among JNPR and RWBY, which meant he knew about it as well second hand, regardless when the boy adamantly denies of such.

"I'm sure he's working on it," Pyrrha said, her tone showing what she truly thought about her statement. "I just wish he'd let us help." Her shoulders sagged as she said it.

Sasuke scoffed. "Then leave him to suffer for his idiocy." Naruto suffered in silence, but where he was alone Arc was not. If he was too blind and stubborn to ask for help, then let him face the consequences.

"He's doing his best, Sasuke," Pyrrha said, a little more heat in her voice than previously. "I trust my team leader."

"If you trust this team leader, then you'll die a meaningless, naïve death." Another slip of the tongue, one that looked like angered the redheaded champion. Well, if he said, he might as well continue. Though the evidence was in full view in the boy's shaky stance.

Pyrrha sat straighter than before, her face set on an angry frown. "I don't believe that one bit. Jaune's a great team leader, he just. . . has more to learn." That's putting it lightly.

He stayed quiet however, content on watching Jaune stumble a fight on this Winchester boy. The only reason he was watching was to see if there was any improvement on his part, and as Sasuke expected, there wasn't any.

"If he didn't even bother learning to fight better, then I recommend asking the headmaster a reassignment," he told the redhead, and he could sense her shaking, as he could see the sisters in front of him trying to ignore the two's argument. "The boy's clearly untrained and you still want him as your leader, but if you care about your team's survival in the field, leave him to the Grimm alone."

Now he'd done it. Pyrrha turned to him, fire in her eyes, a scowl on her face. "I will _not_ leave my comrade to die." When he turned to look her in the eye, her face turned to one of confusion, likely at his amused expression.

"If he has such a loyal teammate, then perhaps it's not too late for him," he said, and turned his head to see Arc tossed to the floor by the larger teen. "Perhaps he could be helped given a proper approach, but it would be easier to just leave him and guarantee your survival. Leave him and survive, or help him and possibly fail and die."

She looked to her feet, clearly in deep thought, a better place to look at considering the one-sided fight that was going on. When she looked back up at him, there was still that anger, but with added determination.

The fight ended with Winchester earning an easy win, and with some added chiding from Glynda, more so towards Jaune than the other.

Wordlessly, Pyrrha stood up and went to her limping team leader, helping him back to his seat, sending a light glare Sasuke's way. Well, not so much a glare, more of 'I won't let you win' type of look. Seems she didn't see competition just in tournaments.

"Nice going, you pissed her off to do something," Yang said. "Who'd have thought you're a master at egging people on to have them do what you want, even outside the ring. Should I be worried you'd take advantage of my maiden mind?"

He rolled his eyes at her theatrics. "You have nothing I want."

She hissed in mock pain. "Ouch, harsh."

Ruby beside her giggled at her sister's display, and turned to face Sasuke. "I don't know if you meant it on purpose, but it was nice of you." She then paused in thought. "Well, technically it was mean, but I guess it's the intent that counts, right?" Did it? It wasn't him who could say.

"I merely stated the situation, if she deemed it a call for action even out of anger, then so be it."

"But were you serious?" He looked to Ruby for confirmation on what she meant. "You know, that they'd die if Jaune didn't get his act straightened out?"

"I was," he said with a nod. "If he's too prideful to accept his team's help, where you have improved-" Ruby puffed her chest with pride at that. "-Jaune has not. He's the same untrained boy from the beginning, stubbornly refusing help to be better with his team."

Looking low in thought, Ruby was taking his words in, he assumed it was putting her in the same situation. "I think I see what you mean," she said finally. "You're saying a team doesn't get stronger when a teammate doesn't try."

"I believe you've heard the term of a chain that's as strong as its weakest link, correct?" Ruby nodded, eyes widening with realization at the implication. "Then you understand what that would mean should a chain snap." Failure, and in combat, that meant death of everyone involved, though they don't have to worry about that anytime soon.

Yang stood up from her seat as students began filing out. "Sasuke's back at it again with the morbid wisdom," she said as she stretched her arms. "You wouldn't happen to be a hundred-year-old hermit in disguise, are you?" In terms of reincarnation, technically far more. "Well whatever, let's get some food."

With the most interesting class he'd attended over, and he's still waiting on Neopolitan's call, Sasuke may as well join them as he waited. Though he was curious to see if team JNPR would join him after his suggestion to leave their leader for dead.

When he saw team them leave the classroom before him, he caught Pyrrha looking his way, but turned away within a blink before he made eye contact. Looks like he embarrassed the girl, or had her hate him for what he said, one or the other.

"C'mon, Pyrrha, we have to wait for the others," he heard Jaune say just he got out the door, halting his teammate from moving further. "And you don't need to be so close, I'm not _that_ hurt." Sasuke didn't mean Jaune was going to die right this second, but it seemed Pyrrha had taken it upon herself to go hard on the matter.

"What? Were you going to leave without us? How cruel!" Yang said with more flair the needed. "Don't worry, I'll forgive you in time. Like, after a burger or something."

Her antics drew their amused laughs, but the Uchiha was focused on the silent redhead who was at her team leader's side. She didn't look angry nor upset, just. . . awkward, he supposed. Perhaps their argument had pushed her a little too hard, and thrust herself into this without thinking about what to do.

At this point it was just a girl too adamant to admit her leader was incompetent, the Uchiha wanted to say she'd understand, but if she didn't learn this past month, she wouldn't now. But they were comrades, and it looked like she wouldn't leave him for dead. Pyrrha was loyal, and she looked like she'd help the blonde fool, whether he liked it or not.

When they passed through the doors of the cafeteria, they immediately spotted Blake waving them over with a conscious Weiss by her side. With the amount of Aura she still had after their fight, it would make sense her recovery was accelerated. Another experiment inadvertently answered.

The group he was with got their trays of food filled with saturated fats and sugar, while he opted for some easy-to-digest salad. He ignored Yang's joke about his 'rabbit habit', and left the groaning for her sister.

"How're you feeling, Weiss?" Ruby asked as she sat beside her teammate.

The heiress sighed. "I'm fine, the nurse said I just needed a bit of rest," she answered, then sent a light glare Sasuke's way. "Though perhaps I got off light." She certainly did. "Don't think I'd fall for the same thing twice, Uchiha." Sasuke just nodded, and she huffed.

"It was a quick match, wasn't it?" Yang said before diving into her burger, ignoring the glare sent her way from Weiss. "I kinda wanted to see your sword skills, but I'll settle with how use your _shocking_ Aura." She also ignored Nora's booing.

Ruby then said, "Yang's bad puns aside-" "Hey!" "-how'd you get to electrify Weiss? She looked like she couldn't move."

The girl herself answered. "He baited me into a trap where I felt he wrapped me with wire," she said, not all too happy about it. "And you can guess what happened next."

Ruby turned back to the Uchiha. "You use wire?"

"Amongst other things," he answered. "I use Dust and my Aura as well to use techniques similar to Weiss', though mine are less refined." That part was a lie, of course, but he did in fact carry around vials of Dust to explain moves like his earth jutsu during initiation and any he might after that. "Looks like I didn't need to."

Weiss growled. "Next time it won't be so easy."

In the quiet gap, he heard some loud whispering that ended with Jaune saying, "Pyrrha, I'm fine, really. Why wouldn't I be?"

"It's just that. . . You know, that. . . Cardin's bullying," she stammered, clearly tiptoeing around wounding the boy's pride. "It can't continue, Jaune."

"What bullying?" his answer was met with more than just skeptic silence, and finally noticed that he didn't only have Pyrrha's attention on him, where even she sunk a little lower in her seat for her failed attempt at subtlety. "W-What?"

"Well if you wanna talk bullying," Yang began. "There was that time he shot you into the Emerald Forest via rocket locker." Sasuke avoided placing Kusanagi or his equipment in those blasted things, and opted to keep them safely in his room. Glynda brought it up once, but allowed it since he was alone in a four-man room.

"I didn't land that far. . ." He remembered Pyrrha bringing a worse-for-wear Jaune that day, claiming it was merely an accident. If it was Naruto he'd unleash a prank pandemonium upon the perpetrator. . . He should stop listening to Xiao-Long so much.

Yang sighed. "If you want more examples, I can go on all day, Jaune."

"Okay, I get it," Jaune relented. "But it's fine! It's not just me, he's a jerk to everybody, see?" To wherever he pointed to, he didn't need to because Sasuke could only roll his eyes at his so-called defense. Cardin's laughing was all he needed to clue him.

When he did look, however, Sasuke admitted it surprised him more than expected.

"Deplorable," Pyrrha said unkindly.

"He's a bully, Jaune," Ruby said. "You don't have to take it." Neither did the girl Winchester was harassing, and Sasuke meant more so since Velvet was in a later year than them. Stronger, smarter, faster, surely she could handle this, but didn't.

Looking around, it didn't seem anyone was going to step forward, instead they were either watching or ignoring the event entirely like it wasn't happening. Nobody was helping despite the stares. . . damn it.

"Hmm, Sasuke?" Ruby voiced when he stood up from his seat. "Where're you going?"

"Returning a favor," he said with a sigh before making his way to the Faunus. 'I kinda know what it feels like' she said back then, clearly she didn't for different reasons. _'Idiot, if you're stronger, then crush them.'_ Was there some cultural difference he didn't know about? He hoped so, and that it wasn't that Velvet was weaker.

That couldn't be if she made it this far within Beacon, she's just choosing not to defend herself for whatever reason. He didn't know whether to call it pitiful or not.

" _Ouch_ , that hurts!" she yelped when Winchester tugged on her ear.

"Wow, the ears are real!" Cardin nearly shouted as his teammates mocked in their own way. "You do- _Whoa!_ " Sasuke grabbed his wrist and pulled it away from her ear, having her fall to the floor. "Let go you fu-, _Ah_!?"

The Uchiha then grabbed the back of the boys head and slammed his face onto the table, then he looked to the Faunus with a heavy frown. He then saw Winchester's teammate make a move towards him, two even just about to attempt jumping over the table to reach the Uchiha.

Pale, blue light and a scream drowned the cafeteria as Sasuke shocked Cardin with **Electromagnetic Murder**. The teammates watched as their friend fell in a smoking heap.

"Cardin!" the boy with the mohawk shouted, throwing the first punch, if it could even be called that with how slow it was, but that might just be from his active Sharingan.

Sasuke leaned to the side and waited for him to pass, before a punch to the gut, then an electric-empowered uppercut right under the chin. When the boy fell, he didn't get back up. Was it the electric jutsu? He hoped so, otherwise he might've broken the boy's neck; not something Ozpin would approve.

Fist still visibly coating in pale blue lightning, he watched the other two slide and jump above the table to reach him. Again, they were painfully slow about it.

He grabbed the collar of the one who opted jumping over the table, and quickly slammed and pinned him to his remaining conscious friend. Both let out a gasp as wind was kicked out of their lungs, and both screamed for the seconds they were introduced with a dose of **Electromagnetic Murder** , he should thank them for opting to wear metal armor.

That was it, four unconscious bodies of young adults who tried taking him on, but the result should've been the same when facing someone of Velvet's standing. Was she later year or was she lying? That couldn't be.

He turned to face her, she was in equal parts surprise in disbelief, as she should. He knelt and moved closer to her face before quietly saying, "consider it a thank you from back then, but don't think deeply into it. If they bother you once more, you alone are responsible to show them what happens when they harass you, I won't be doing this again."

"Thank you."

Her response had him pause, it wasn't the response he was expecting from declaring he wasn't going to help next time, but he nodded regardless and stuck a hand out for her to take. When she did, he lifted her off the floor, nodded to her again, and left to rejoin his company.

Of the people around who watched, several looked to him in disappointment or disgust, but others showed approval, some Faunus even showed thankfulness. It didn't matter, they could think whatever they wanted, this wasn't going to be repeated.

He heard Yang give an impressed whistle. "Quick work, the four of them didn't even last long as Weiss."

"As I said, none of you first years are strong enough to fight me," Sasuke replied just as he was about to sit, but his Scroll buzzed. When he drew it out, the name Neopolitan was in large letters on the screen.

While the quiet one, it seemed Blake found his actions worthy of a comment. "I didn't think you cared," she said, her voice showing evident surprise.

"I don't, merely paying back someone who helped me, nothing more," he said, looking around for a quiet place to answer the Scroll, but with the few eyes still on him, it wasn't this place.

"Something the matter?" Ren asked, spotting his clear agitation from the call. "Is it Ozpin calling you? Did he know about your fight just now?" If it could even be called that.

He shook his head and calmed himself down. "Just another special order for books," Sasuke lied. He told them about his special orders in effort to learn what Vale found out about Aura, and while true, it also worked as a cover to procure what his clones acquired from the pockets of citizens. "I need to take this." He then went to leave before they could ask any more, only barely hearing their goodbyes.

Outside the cafeteria, he considered taking the call in the hallway, but being surrounded by would-be heroes in an iconic academy might not be wise for a video call. He gave a silent thanks to Ruby, and selected the audio-only option and brought up to his ear.

" _You kept me waiting, you should be more responsible in handling your calls,_ " the voice of Neo said. " _And what's with the voice call?_ " He had perfectly valid reasons for the second one, but he ignored answering that.

Sasuke resisted to scowl. "I don't think you should be the one bothered by waiting. It's been weeks and you call me now?"

" _Is that the way to speak to your employer?_ " For the second time, he paused. " _What happened, cat got your tongue?_ "

"I'm employed then, what of the Dust I said would be my payment?" Dust was viable energy source for the seal, and while not as potent as souls, Tatsuya said that it would suit it fine should enough quantity be used.

Neo hummed. " _Don't worry, I talked it over with the boss, you'll get your Dust, but not so quick._ " Of course it wasn't, why would it? " _We have a little test for you to go through first, but it shouldn't be a problem._ "

A month he waited, and he was just about to search for another source for Dust, but looked like he didn't need to. "Tell me the time and place."

* * *

A date had been set, in a few days Sasuke would leave for the capital to meet up with his contact to do this test Neopolitan mentioned. When he asked why not sooner, she answered that they were 'still setting up shop'. Either way, he had something to look forward to.

Which was why the current situation was a little more annoying than it should.

"You coming to the defense to Miss Scarlatina was admirable, even if it was from fellow trainees," Ozpin said with a nod. "I'd have them punished, but it seemed like you did that for me. Though I will have some words with them later."

What happened in the cafeteria might've turned out to be a boon for the Uchiha. Considering their deal and Ozpin's optimism that he'd join them, perhaps his little show of heroism to protect a fellow student might make the headmaster more patient with him. At least, that's what he told himself to make this underwhelming discussion bearable.

"I was paying back a favor from her assistance early on," Sasuke said standing across from the man's desk. "That said, she's responsible for handling harassment on her own, I won't be helping her any more than I already did."

Ozpin just nodded. "I can assure you Velvet and her team are very capable students. I have no doubt in my mind she can fight team CRDL with relative ease, but won't due to personal reasons, I'm sure." Whatever those reasons were, they better be worth it. "Though if you hadn't beaten them, I'm sure Coco might have. . ." The last part was mumbled.

"So why am I here? I doubt you called for me just to praise me." While bullying wasn't common, he had seen a few around Beacon, Jaune being a strong example of one he didn't want to intervene in.

"Am I not allowed to check up on my students?"

"I'm not your student, never was." The headmaster was just playing, hence why the Uchiha didn't appreciate this conversation. "What's the real reason?"

The man leaned into his desk, hands steepled on it. "Partially to discourage you from getting into fights, but mostly to assess how you've been doing."

Needless to say, Sasuke was quite skeptical. "That so happens to coincide with my aid to one of your students? One would assume you saw it was a sign as me accepting Beacon."

All the headmaster did was hum. "I don't think I need that moment to see that."

"You can sound vague all you want, I still want to know why I was summoned here." He can think whatever he wanted, it only benefited Sasuke.

Ozpin leaned back into his chair. "I was looking into where your home could be, and I've yet to find any that would be a few month's journey from here that was destroyed."

"I would assume not, my village prided itself for being hidden," he answered quickly. "I doubt even flying over it would help finding it. If swarms of Nevermore couldn't find it, then certainly not your bullheads."

"And not even other villages?"

Now Sasuke had to pause. "There were other villages similar to ours that we interacted with, but it wasn't very amicable." Building lies on top of lies, let there be so many layers they could never find the truth.

"Why not?"

"Our villages were very prideful, and when two prideful people meet with each greed for finite resources, that only leads to one result."

"War," Ozpin answered, to which Sasuke nodded. "So your village was destroyed from one war?"

Sasuke scoffed. "The latest one, yes, but the previous ones helped build up to it. Forgiveness wasn't in our people's nature, a cycle of hatred continued from father to child. We just happen to be the last of the line, my village and theirs. It seemed Grimm finally gathered enough to destroy all the villages involved."

Ozpin hummed in deep thought about his lies. "Such a shame so many died for pride and greed." For what it's worth, he did seemed genuinely bothered by such loss of life. "Perhaps the kingdoms were the lucky ones having finally made peace after the war, or I fear we might've suffered a similar fate."

"You would've," Sasuke replied instantly.

"And what was your position in the war?" he asked curiously, again leaning closer to his desk. "Or perhaps I should ask if there are any other survivors we might aide as we have you."

With a brow raised, Sasuke wondered if it was a question or a trap. "My place in the war was local defense, I was barely out of the academy when Grimm tore down our walls." It was best to let them think he was talented, not superhuman. "As for survivors, if you find any, I'd certainly appreciate to know of them."

"You're certainly keeping your secrets close to heart," the headmaster replied, noticing his clipped information. "Though perhaps I should thank you for sharing as much as you did." Yeah, sure.

"I'm still trying to decipher why my village kept the outside world a secret," Sasuke said with a nod. "Once I learn more and debunk a few theories, I will tell you all you wish to know." Hopefully by then he'd have a way home by then before more questions.

The older man nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Uchiha, I believe I learned what I needed. You may leave and enjoy your day."

Sasuke nodded in return and went back to the elevator to leave, he saw the headmaster give him a small wave as the doors slid shut. _'Cocky bastard.'_ He was actually unsure if Ozpin believed him or not, whether he was hiding his skepticism or not. _'I haven't been kicked out yet, but only time will tell.'_

When the elevator doors opened once more, he was immediately placed on edge. A group of older students leant on a wall before him, waiting for something and Sasuke couldn't help but feel it was for him, especially from how the girl with the beret dropped her sunglasses to give a long look at him.

Should he dash away and leave, or fight and show them their place? Options kept coming up, especially as he looked to her teammates, but then he spotted familiar, brown rabbit ears. Was this another group bullying her? If so, he wasn't getting himself involved with this one, but she didn't seem as frightened or anxious.

"So, you're Sasuke Uchiha," the woman in the beret stated, then looked him up and down. "You're shorter than I expected."

The Uchiha frowned. "If you're here to criticize my height, then I have better things to do than listen to you," he replied, and saw Velvet groan into her hands, the one in green armor patting her shoulder as a show of solidarity. _'Her team?'_

"No need to get sour, just stating an observation from the guy I keep hearing from some classmates. I'm sure you're familiar with a certain fan club."

He audibly growled. "I am not involved with them in any way, and I intend to keep it so." The beret girl pushed herself off the wall and made her way to him, not in a dreamy lustful way, but rather almost out of curiosity.

And here she was, standing before him a foot away. "You helped my teammate from some assholes, I hear."

He looked to Velvet once more, her eyes were low and looked like she wanted to avoid seeing this interaction. Turning back to the woman in front of him, he asked, "so what if I did?" Considering Velvet's reaction, maybe he should approach this with caution.

"Well, first I need to ask why you butted in and stopped me from exacting my own revenge." So was she upset or not? "Besides, I feel like I have to thank you."

"I don't wa-" One moment he was giving a response, the next he saw arms coming at him from his sides to embrace him. _That_ , he wasn't going to allow.

Sasuke could now see the beret girl squeezing the life out of one of her teammates, and that wasn't an exaggeration. The redhead he replaced himself with looked far too much in pain to even be surprised how he got there. "Just be quiet and accept my gratitude," she said, oblivious who she was really showing thanks to.

He heard a feminine squeak from beside him, which happened to be Velvet looking at him in surprise, followed closely by her larger teammate's own exclamation.

"Coco, you missed," the large one shouted when he turned.

So this was Coco that Ozpin mumbled about earlier, but she didn't look anything special. He wanted to comment on her body, but she wore far too many accessories to really have an impression on what looked like a lean build.

Coco blinked a bit and looked down at her victim's blue face, and let him fall to the floor in a gasping heap. Perhaps his impression on her build would've been inaccurate if it caused that much damage.

When she turned to face him, she looked confused. "What's the matter, afraid of a little hug?" she said with a smile, opening her arms wide and as she walked towards him again. And that was _not_ some little hug. "Come on, it's just some thanks from me, no need to run away."

"I'd rather you show your appreciation without invading my personal space," he told her.

"Now you just make me want to try harder." Stubborn, and all she was missing was some blonde hair. At least she wasn't being lecherous about it, but that didn't change his answer. She then gave him a second look over and dropped her arms with a small frown. "On second thought, maybe you're right. How about I pay you back with a wardrobe change. Seriously, what's with the rope?"

Sasuke's eye twitched. "I don't need your aid for my clothes either." It was functional, and that's all that mattered. He was about to say more, but Coco literally leapt at him for an embrace, he was almost caught off-guard.

"Gotcha, you wily little bastard," she said victoriously. "You're gonna accept my thanks whether you like it or not."

"As I said, I don't want it," he said from beside her where Velvet once stood.

Coco looked down at her new victim, that being the Faunus who now fell to the floor after being let go, groaning for a _very_ endearing embrace. Her grin grew as she was right beside him. "Third time's the cha-" was all she said before she closed her eyes from the gust of wind that hit her face. When she opened them once more, the Uchiha was gone.

" _Hmph!_ " she huffed as she raised her sunglasses back in place. "Looks like he doesn't know that Coco Adel always gets her man."

* * *

 **Byrn is now my inter-fic OC (Frosted Steel, TDBOI). Spoiler: He never wins.**

 **Oh boy, I needed to rework chapter 5 a little bit, and we see more Neo talking. Don't worry, I'm cutting my own arm for each word she says** **. . . Does anyone else notice the room spinning? I'm gonna take a nap.**

 **Trivia:**

 **1-Weiss was actually the initial person who he was supposed to fight before I changed it to Pyrrha back then. This is better because it serves the rival-animosity Weiss should've had towards him.**

 **2-This might be a surprise, but I have no hatred towards team CRDL, nor most personalities. I hate badly written characters, not bad guys, hence why I really hate character bashing.**

 **3-Chapter 3 and 4 were the most problematic to rewrite, since it was a combo of working with what's made and completely new. Can't change too much, but I had to change what I could.**

 **Alright, reviews help me understand if I made the right choice (unless you reviewed before, in which case thank you anyways). In the meantime, I'll be going into a small coma.**


	5. When Wishing Still Helped

.

 **Chapter 5**

 **Whoops, with the new chapter 4 how it is, I had to give this a new beginning that was initially at the end of chapter 4. Nothing too big, just for continuity. Which is why it'll be jarring because it will be third person limited then into third person omniscient. Apologies.**

* * *

 **I've Dreamed For This Story To Be Made; But All I Found Were Stories That Made My IQ Fade!**

* * *

 **Chapter Five: When Wishing Still Helped**

"I'm not going," Sasuke said once he was alone with Glynda within her class.

"Mr. Uchiha, the trip today to Forever Fall is part of Professor Peach's curriculum, you can't just _not go_." He wasn't going for a myriad of reasons, one of which was that Peach's class was near pointless to him, but most importantly he had an appointment with Neopolitan at the same time today.

"It doesn't matter, I won't be going. If this is such a problem, you can take it up with Ozpin on the matter." That clearly didn't sit well Goodwitch. "Or fail me, whichever you find most suitable." The frown on her face deepened, she knew it meant nothing due to his special circumstances.

She sighed, drew out her large Scroll and tapped onto it a few times. "You're name is removed from the list of people going on the expedition," she said. "Though if you wish to return, speak to me." That wasn't going to happen, but he gave a silent nod before exiting the classroom.

With that out of the way, he needed a reason to leave for the capital should he be asked. Fortunately he received a message the previous day from Tucson of books he ordered arriving, now he just needed to know what this 'test' Neopolitan had in mind.

"I'm a little surprised Miss Goodwitch didn't chew your head off back there," he heard Yang say once he exited the class. "You really like playing with fire, don't you?"

"She knows I'm a special case," he explained, seeing the two sisters standing in wait for him. "She also knows not to see me as a full student." But rather as a possible asset. "Where's the rest of your team?"

"They beat us to the cafeteria, Ruby thought we should wait and see if we need to collect your body, fortunately that doesn't seem to be the case."

"Yang, that's not what I said at all!" her sister defended, and turned to the Uchiha. "I just thought it'd be nice if we waited for you, that's all, I swear!" He couldn't help but roll his eyes at their exchange. "What were you talking about, anyway?"

"Merely to inform that I won't be joining you on your trip to Forever Fall," he answered. The trip was within an hour, as was his 'job interview', which was very easy to prioritize which was more important.

"What, you don't want to join us?" Ruby asked, sounding genuinely disappointed. "Come on, it's gonna be fun." Going around planting spouts on trees to collect jars of sap was not something he considered to look forward to.

"You're just going to have to enjoy it without me," he said. "I plan to spend the time in Vale for research purposes."

" _Bah!_ Nerd," Yang said with disgust as they began walking to the mess hall. When she put her arms on the back of her head as she walked, he always had that irking nostalgia. Her carefree attitude, cockiness, and hotheadedness, he'd seen those attributes every day that always made him remember back home.

A lot of people's characteristics here Sasuke could read easily enough, but Xiao-Long's had been the easiest, he'd dealt with it before countless times back home. Some differences, yes, but the similarities had always been the most prevalent.

"-eard she forced him into training, I guess our Pyrrha finally grew some balls," he heard Yang say in the end, whatever she said before completely lost on him, but it didn't take a genius to know what she was talking about.

"I guess what you said really had an effect on her," Ruby added. "Poor Jaune, though, Pyrrha wouldn't even let him leave her sight."

Sasuke only gave a vague hum. Since the first day he fought, when he told Pyrrha his thoughts on her weak teammate, she took it upon herself to train the blonde fool. Well, training the in the sense of waking him up every morning with a loud whistle. And _coincidentally_ living next to the two teams had made him very aware of Jaune's morning life.

"I mean, he wants to go hang out with Cardin of all people, can you imagine that?" Yang said in disbelief. "If it wasn't for Pyrrha, he'd leave to sit beside them." Indeed, at some point Jaune had stood with team CRDL, but it lasted naught for but a minute before Pyrrha _literally_ dragged him back.

Ruby sighed. "I don't know what's going on with Jaune, but I really hope it doesn't bite him in the butt, because then it bites the whole team in the butt."

Yang cooed. "Aww, my sister's learning from Sasuke." She looked to him and his cold demeanor, then back at her younger sister. "On second thought, maybe you shouldn't." He only shrugged, unoffended.

"Hey! You're just jealous you're not smart enough to have any good things to teach me. _Wah!_ " Ruby suddenly found herself in a headlock by her sister.

"What was that, I couldn't hear you?" Yang asked in a low voice, using her other hand to ruffle her sister's hair. "Come on, say it again."

"Sasuke, help!" He only shook his head at the rather amusing scene and walked ahead. "Sasuke, no~," was all he heard the further he got.

In the end the Uchiha reached the mess hall before the two sisters, and it was packed as it always was. Fortunately, he didn't have to stand there waiting long, thanks to an orange-haired girl waving him over.

As he made his way, he spotted three members of team CRDL, the fourth, the one with the mohawk, was his sparring partner in the Combat Class not half-an-hour ago. The match was quickly done, and it seemed the boy had yet to recover from Sasuke's 'earth Dust' technique to test how crushing worked on Aura. While his teammates scowled at him, he paid them no heed, they knew what's good for them when he's involved.

"Hey, Sasuke," Nora greeted as he sat with his own tray of food. She looked around, then back at him. "Didn't Yang and Ruby wait for you outside class, where're they?"

"They should be here shortly," he answered as he took a sip of his tea. And he was right, before a second question was asked, he saw the two sisters make their way to him.

One sister in particular was dazed and groaned as she sat beside him, her hair far messier than before, while the taller one had a look of victory on her face.

Weiss was the first to ask the obvious question. "What in the world happened to you two?"

Ruby's head hit the table, but she managed enough force to raise her arm to point at Sasuke. "Traaaiiitoooor," she groaned before her arm fell too on the table.

"Don't listen to her," Yang said, waving her hand dismissively. "She's just being overdramatic."

"I'm _loving_ Ruby's new hairstyle," Nora nearly shouted, raising herself and leaning in to the poor girl to give her a closer look. "It's so tacky, but so chic!"

Ren sighed. "I don't think those two mix, Nora." A sound explanation, but that hadn't deterred her from grabbing Rose's face and bring it up for eye contact.

"Such a moving statement in hair form!" All Ruby did was extend her groan.

Weiss grabbed Nora's arm and had her sit down. "I think she has enough brain damage, thank you, Nora." She turned to her blonde teammate. "Okay, what did you do?"

"Oh you know, _things_ ," Yang answered vaguely. "Just sisterly things you don't have to worry about until you choose someone over your own sister. Right, Ruby?" A groan was her response. "Exactly." And that was that, as though that answered anything.

Schnee blinked and turned to rest of the group. "So, how many of you collected sap before." It was a good tactic to move passed the topic and into an important one. "I never had to do such before."

"Not hard to believe," Sasuke heard Blake whisper, then spoke louder. "It's just digging a spout into the tree itself, shouldn't be hard."

Ren nodded. "Nora and I lived on the road for a while, and as Blake said, it's just digging that spout into the tree," he said. "Though we had to be careful since it attracted Grimm, and even stinging insects."

Weiss nodded. "You're right, it shouldn't be difficult then, it's just that Professor Peach can be bizarre about these things." Sasuke had seen the instructor, and he could agree.

"Well, Sasuke doesn't need to worry about it since he isn't coming," Yang added out of the blue.

"Is that so?" Pyrrha asked, and turned to the Uchiha. "Is there a reason?"

Meeting a criminal underground contact. "I don't believe the field trip is worth more than me walking around Vale to study its culture," he answered.

Weiss clicked her tongue. "You can't know for sure until you try. With all the classes I've seen you miss, who knows what you might've learned as well?" He'd learn sap comes from trees, that's about it, which was about as useful as the increasing amount of classes he missed. "Though I'm most surprised the headmaster allowed it to happen."

"Well, he did say he's a special case," Blake reasoned. "I assume he's not seen as a full student, hence some freedoms." Sasuke nodded. "But I do wonder why they offered you something like that in the first place."

"I'm not certain of the reasons myself," he lied. "Perhaps Ozpin saw me as he saw Ruby, and felt the need to enroll me under special circumstances." He didn't think answering the truth that he may prove to be a useful asset would keep him on the headmaster's good graces.

"Well, this was fun and all," Jaune began as he stood up. "But ma- _Ah!_ " And was immediately was forced to sit back down by his redheaded teammate.

"No, Jaune, you won't," Pyrrha said resolutely. "You need to eat healthily, especially since we have more training to do when we get back from Forever Fall today." The boy groaned as though he was in league with Ruby, and he looked worriedly at team CRDL.

"Why do you even want to go to them?" she asked hotly. "They've been nothing but cruel to you."

"W-What?" he said as though aghast at the idea. "Pyrrha, I think you just don't get how guys roughhouse around, that's all." Her face clearly showed how she didn't believe his lie.

"You're not going there, Jaune," Pyrrha said as fact, one not to be argued against. And considering Sasuke saw her glance his way, he knew why. She casually turned back to her meal. "Eat well, we have much work to do when we get back."

"You heard the boss, Jauney," Nora said with a nod. "If you have a problem, you can submit a complaint in the suggestion box." Jaune looked to Ren for an explanation, who only shrugged in return.

Downing the rest of his tea, Sasuke stood back up. "Since I won't be joining you on your Forever Fall trip, I'll be leaving you here to see Vale," he informed.

"Well, if you're so sure about it," Yang said and grinned. "We'll see you when we get back, dear friend. Sorry, didn't mean to sound _sappy_."

He left the table at the sounds of groans, and a grape thrown at the blonde's head from Nora with a loud ' _boo!_ '. Which seemed to continue even after he went through the doors and into the hallway.

They were good company, he reminded himself, Yang's incessant need for puns notwithstanding. They didn't ask too many questions, and seemingly just accepted his presence with them. Deterring people from approaching was an added bonus as well.

When he wasn't with them, he kept an eye out for any approaching fangirl, when they did, he'd glare them away, but that rarely stopped the next time they work up the same courage. Perhaps he should put in killing intent, that might help.

Of course, the thoughts were a distraction for what's to come. When he reached the port of Beacon, all those distractions stopped mattering. _'I hate bullheads.'_ It's been a little over a month, and he'd yet to get accustomed flying in one.

Sasuke got accustomed to not show his discomfort -and it's definitely discomfort, nothing else-, but he has yet to find it reassuring the dozens of time's he used their damned flying machines.

Nodding to one the nearby pilots, he jumped into an empty bullhead and waited for the feeling of pressure then weightlessness. _'I hate bullheads.'_ Outside the port window, he saw Beacon grow smaller as the distance between them grew. _'I **hate** bullheads.'_

For their abomination of an existence, their speed was praiseworthy, especially since it kept the trip not last more than a minute. When he hopped off, it was always worthy for a breath of relief.

He'd like nothing to do then to run to this club Neopolitan told him about, but it was still far too early and he had books to retrieve. Partially for the cover, but more so because the books were very useful. Beacon's libraries had a good selection, but not very specialized.

From his requests, Tucson had found books that specialized in Grimm theory, Aura theory, and even journals from independent researchers. Sadly, even with reading all he could, neither provided conclusive evidence that Grimm could or couldn't appear in his world or if he could use Aura.

Negativity attracted them, hitting them in vital parts killed them, but their origin? Theories were all they could work with, which meant all Sasuke could work with. He often wondered if someone was responsible, as if it was a unique Semblance that'd gone severely wrong. It was an interesting theory, but no basis other than that Semblances could be material as it could be vague in its power. While researching was not _that_ important, it gave him something to do until a way home was made.

He heard the familiar chime as he walked through the familiar door. "Tucson," he greeted with a nod. The large man behind the counter didn't even need to bother saying his line, he knew he was coming, as Sasuke did several times.

"Sasuke, good to see you again," Tucson greeted. "I've got your order in the back, just browse around while I get it."

Sasuke nodded and just looked at the books when the clerk went to the backroom. He had to admit, Tucson was diligent in picking what books to bring him with the vague request he made. The man knew his books, and was, in a sense, one of his most useful allies here.

Looking to one of those comics, he rolled his eyes at the costume the heroes of this _X-ray and Vav_ comics had, as though it wouldn't attract attention with such standout colors. It's best to be forgettable if hiding from something, with a disguise that attracted the least eyes.

A thought nagged him, having Sasuke look at his faint reflection from the glass. He remembered on his way here from Beacon, the eyes of women who wanted him, one lustful gaze after another. Sasuke Uchiha attracted attention just from walking the halls of Beacon, something that was damning if he were to steal or kill for Dust.

The answer was simple, he needed to be someone else.

"Alright, got em right here," Tucson said as he walked out from the backroom with a bag in hand, snapping the Uchiha from his musings. "I got a few journals on Aura and Grimm like you asked, and my guy actually found one study on Semblances."

Sasuke approved of this and walked up to the counter. "This will do well," he commented, then placed a stack of lien beside the bag before taking the books.

Tucson took it with some added glee. "Pleasure doing business with you," he said as he counted. "You know, you might be my most valued customer."

Sasuke paused to look around the empty bookstore, as it always had been since he visited to collect his order, then turned back to Tucson with a raised brow.

The man let out a sheepish chuckle. "Yeah, business hadn't been going well for us bookstore owners." Clearly. "So by default, you're my best customer."

Sasuke hummed. "You'll have my patronage as long you keep bringing me books of high quality." The man's good at his books, what more can be said?

"Say, why do you need all these research materials, anyway? If you don't mind me asking."

"I do mind." Tucson nodded and didn't follow up. "I'll be back for the next set you bring me," he added before leaving, the clerk waving him goodbye.

Looking around, his previous thoughts held true as a few people, women mostly, took the time to look at him admiringly. He casually walked a distance before going into an alleyway and out of sight. He kept checking his surroundings if anyone followed him, or even perhaps some person looking through a window, fortunately there wasn't any.

 _'Who do I become?'_ he thought in contemplation, going through a list in his mind. He'll need someone that doesn't relate to him lest anyone find a connection. He had a long list to select from, thankfully, but what would be optimal?

Someone who appeared threatening for whatever work he might be told to do, but not enough to attract looks; a forgettable, featureless face. Someone who didn't have sharp teeth like Suigetsu, and didn't have bright colored hair like Naruto or Sakura.

A person came to mind, someone he knew but not closely enough to feel concerned if his name was dragged through the dirt. Most importantly, he couldn't have looked more differently.

Forming the seal, Sasuke exploded into a cloud of smoke. This face, if it ever attracted attention, it'd be solely to it, never to Sasuke Uchiha. When the smoke dissipated, Gaara of the Desert stood in the alleyway.

Appraising his transformation, Sasuke found it to be perfect. It's as he remembered Gaara during the Fourth War, younger than the real one at this time, just another difference from the Uchiha he'd benefit from. His red clothes were nothing of note, his face forgettable but intimidating with the right form. He looked as any young Huntsman in training around, especially since he omitted that massive gourd of his.

When Gaara walked out of the alleyway where Sasuke once entered, he was pleased to find himself almost completely ignored. There were a few that looked at him, but more so to move around where he stood. No eyes that laid on him lingered.

With a nod, he moved to where he was supposed to be. The entire time he glanced at passing people to see how well his disguise worked, and he was content with saying it was flawless. People ignored him, the few that did look immediately turned away.

It's a bit of a new feeling, actually.

Taking out his Scroll, he used it to find the location of the rendezvous he was supposed to find Neopolitan. _'Meeting at a tavern, how original.'_ If it worked, it worked, even in a different dimension apparently.

Vale was rather large, and combined with his inability to run across rooftops at current time, the trip took a longer than it normally would have. The sky had even started turning red as the sun began to set, and the time to meet was coming quick. So when he reached the obnoxiously loud night club, it took some effort to dive into the crowded noisy building.

Ignored he might be, but he was still very corporeal. People kept bumping into him, and since he was a very paranoid ninja, he wasn't having a good time like these people. He tried moving away from being bumped, but it was pointless with so many people while he was searching for familiar pink and brown hair.

Gaara growled, finding the search pointless or damn impossible. The place was too crowded to find anyone specific, especially around the dancefloor, and Neopolitan's diminutive height certainly wasn't helping. He gave up the venture and went to the bar to try his luck.

Thankfully it wasn't as crowded and could even be considered spacious, most of the people getting their fill of debauchery under colored lights of the dancefloor, the loud electronic music almost drowning out the cheers and dancing.

"What can I do you for?" asked the lanky bartender with a shout.

Gaara leaned in to make sure he was heard. "I'm looking for a woman," he nearly shouted in Gaara's voice. "She goes by the name Neopolitan, I was to meet her here."

He hit the jackpot. When he said the name, the bartender's eyes lit up in recognition, but also agitation. Still, he nodded. "Wait right here," he said before leaving to a staff-only area.

And so he waited, looking at the different bottles on the shelves across of him. Beside and around him were a few people, most of them took their drink and immediately left for the dancefloor, none giving Gaara the time of day, which only assured him of his choice.

But it didn't look like it was subtle enough.

Gaara eyed the approaching suited men with suspicion. They had weapons, but they were still holstered, though a few were twitching to their weapons. The only people who noticed were those close by, and they were more than happy to give him and his new company some space.

"So, you're who we're waiting for," a deep voice said from behind the counter. When he turned, it was a bear of a man, with bearded face to match.

"And you're not Neopolitan," he answered, then looked back to the obvious gangsters that surrounded him in a wide semi-circle. Though this time they had two twin young woman, and they looked like they're Huntress trained. Regardless, this wasn't going to go well for them if they wanted a fight.

The man grunted. "Cute," he said, having Gaara's eyes back on him. The man dug a small envelope out of his pocket and placed on the counter. "Don't know who you are, kid, but pass on a message for me." He leaned in. "You tell them if Roman ever wanted to hire more of my guys, we're gonna have a problem. I'd have thrown this messenger boy job in his face if it wasn't for a short bitch with a sword." He slid the envelope across right in front of Gaara, which he took. "Now get the hell out of my club."

Sasuke didn't need to be told twice. He calmly got off the chair and moved through the gap in the wall of gangsters. There were no swords raised, and certainly no gunshot echoing in the club, and it stayed that way until he left through its doors.

Gaara sighed, looked like it wasn't the place to meet, but rather relay where the real meeting would take place. He raised the envelope in his hand and opened it. Inside was a small piece of paper with an address on it. Though the man said the name 'Roman', he wasn't sure why or who that is, though he was sure he'd find out.

He brought up his Scroll once more and input the new location, he silently thanked Ruby for instructing him in the device's use. Fortunately the designated place wasn't far, so he continued his way calmly on foot.

 _'Why designate a spot just to tell me where to go next?'_ he asked himself. It wasn't an uncommon action when dealing with new people, when the contractor was afraid of their new recruit being more than he claimed to be. Sasuke became very aware of his surroundings, watching the rooftops and corners for anyone following him.

If the tavern was just a relay, then he must've been being watched the entire time. Well, would have if Neopolitan knew about his disguise and told whoever if not herself taking on the job. If watching from afar, the tail must still be waiting for Sasuke Uchiha, unaware of Gaara.

With a mental shrug, he continued his way to find the location. _'Whoever's waiting is going to be surprised.'_ He'd have to approach it cautiously since Gaara wasn't who should be there.

After a short walk, and glaring a few pickpockets away from him, Gaara found the location he was supposed to be at. It looked like an abandoned warehouse, its dilapidated state matched well with the nearby buildings. With the night setting, it looked very ominous.

He walked closer to its gates, knowing he was being watched, how could he not be when this close to a hiding spot? Maybe it was a test by Ozpin, and could very well be, but that soon proved untrue.

The rusted gates opened slowly, only enough for six people garbed in uniform, masks, and guns ran out and surrounded him with their weapons pointed at him. Understandable since he wasn't in the form they were expecting, fortunately there was a simple solution.

"My name's Sasuke Uchiha," Gaara said. "I'm supposed to be here." If anything, that prompted more of a hostile reaction. They weren't expecting Sasuke Uchiha either, great. . .

"Don't you fucking move, human," one of them growled out, and turned to his comrade. "Go restrain him, I'll get the Lieutenant to deal with him." Didn't sound like it was for an interview. "Arms up, asshole."

Gaara complied and raised his arms, one of the six moving forward to tie him up. "Don't know if you're stupid or suicidal," she said as she brought out zip ties. When she reached for his arm, Gaara vanished in a flicker. "Shit! He's a Huntsman!"

The six exclaimed and swiveled around to find him. "Find the bastard!" one of them shouted, his gun aimed at anywhere his eyes were pointed at. "Where the hell is he!?"

Someone yelped, and when the grunt looked, his comrade tripped to the floor, and screamed as he was dragged into a nearby alleyway by metal wire.

"Unload on that alleyway," the head of the remaining five shouted, bringing his weapon up to bear, but the gun flew upwards as the metal wire snatched it from him, the same wire that wrapped around his neck and dragged him up a light post. When his head slammed on the bulb and fell to the floor, he didn't get back up.

"Damn it, we lost another one!"

"He's a Huntsman, where the fuck is our back up!?" another shouted, and turned just in time to see a figure in red right behind two of her comrades, she couldn't warn them in time before Sasuke grabbed their heads, lighting up the dark street as the two were engulfed in pale blue electricity. The two fell with only a short scream, right before the figure vanished again before she could even take aim. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

She turned to see the only member other than her, just to make some kind of plan to hold out for reinforcement. "Get over- _Kh!_ " she sounded before an arm wrapped around her neck, having her drop her gun to pry out of it. The last one took aim, but didn't fire, _couldn't_ fire lest he hits his friend.

"Damn you!" the final shouted in rage as the one in Gaara's arms dropped, and just when there was a clear shot, he vanished again. "You fucking human! Come out and fight me!"

"If you insist." The grunt turned around with his weapon in hopes to get a shot out, but he only saw the red eyes of the one who attacked him before he felt a fist lodged into his gut, and another that slammed into the side of his head.

And that was it, six men out on the ground in varying degrees. Sasuke expected more people to come he'd have to deal with, and there had to be more if they were exclaiming about reinforcements.

 _'The only reasonable explanation would be that this is the test, but it couldn't be, could it?'_ he thought, just as he heard clapping from the gate they came from. There approached an orange-haired man in a white coat and a bowler hat, clapping as he approached.

He stopped clapping to take his cigar out of his mouth and let out a breath of smoke. "Well, I'd say I'm impressed, but believe me it's not hard to win against these animals in a fight," he said, and poked one of the men on the ground with his cane, causing him to groan. "And they're still alive? Well, I guess that's okay." He turned back to Gaara. "So, what to do with you? While it didn't seem like much, this _was_ a test for someone I was expecting. It's a shame, really, but I have to kill you."

That would go as well as for these six. "You don't have to, this test is meant for me." If it could even be called that.

The man aimed his cane at Gaara, having the cap open up into a crosshair. "Sure, kid. I'm expecting a black haired twenty-something, not a bored redheaded kid, but nice try, A for effort. Now hold still." Gaara was engulfed in a cloud, seemingly giving the smoker enough pause considering he didn't shoot yet.

"As I said, this test was for me," Sasuke said when the smoke cleared, revealing his true form.

The man whistled impressively at the reveal, but most importantly lowered the cane. "Nice trick you got there," he said, sticking the cigar back in his mouth. "I'm starting to see why Neo picked you out, you could prove useful. Not sure about as an enforcer, though." He kicked an unconscious grunt in the gut, making hum vomit. "Not exactly hard to beat them down, to be honest."

Sasuke hummed. "And where is Neopolitan?"

A feminine voice behind him answered. "She was on her way from staking out the club when she heard some redhead showed up at our front door." The Uchiha turned to see Neo standing there. "And here I was thinking you were a no show."

"You should've been more attentive." That got him a razzberry. He turned back to the smoker. "And you are?"

The man blinked, and looked genuinely surprised such a questioned even needed to be asked. "You don't know who I am? You can't be serious." Sasuke's flat, unimpressed look was his answer. The man's shoulders sank with a tired sigh. "Kids these days, playing with their video games being desensitized from reality." He looked back to Sasuke. "I'm Roman Torchwick, Remnant's greatest thief, make sure to put that in memory. Watch the news more often, you might learn a thing or two."

Didn't Ruby say she beat him? He didn't bring it up due to certain implications that would entail.

"Let's just get a move on," he said suddenly and upset. "I've got places to be." Roman turned and walked back to the warehouse he came from.

Neo walked passed Sasuke, and turned to face him as she walked backwards. "Come on, let's introduce you to the family." While he wasn't so sure about that last bit, he did follow her in.

Inside the warehouse was empty, but people in white masks moved around crates of what Sasuke assumed were equipment. He knew who they were from the men he fought outside, the people around Beacon would often speak about 'filthy animals' that's the White Fang, the thorn to the side of society along with the Faunus.

Not even that banner hanging from the rails was needed to tell him.

"White Fang," he commented.

"So this human heard of us," an accented voice said unkindly. The Uchiha saw it was a _very_ large man, or Faunus he supposed, and he walked until he stood close enough that Sasuke had to look up at him. "You heard, yet you come here. Isn't that foolish for a human to enter the lions den."

The Uchiha wasn't impressed at this attempt of at intimidation. "Why would humans fear such poorly trained lapdogs?" He heard Roman smother a snort, almost as loudly as this Faunus growled and leaned in.

"Why don't you say that again, human?" Who was he trying to play?

The Uchiha gestured to the gate he entered from. "I don't think you're at liberty to intimidate me when I defeated six of your men as easily as one would an insect." He moved closer to the large Faunus' face. "I doubt beating you would be any different."

The behemoth growled louder and reached to his back where he kept his weapon. Before it could be drawn, Roman stood between them to diffuse the situation.

"Now now, play nice, boys," Roman said, as Sasuke allowed him to wrap an arm around his shoulders and move him away. "We're going to go talk business, so lieutenant, why don't you go and take those napping soldiers of yours before they catch a cold." The lieutenant raised his mask slightly and spat at the thief's feet before walking away. Roman rolled his eyes with a sigh and unwrapped his arm from Sasuke. "Mongrels, every damn one of them. Come on, we got a verbal contract to work out."

Sasuke could only nod as he followed the thief through this base of operations. He watched men and women unloaded crates from truck beds and moved them to different parts of the building. They seemed to work well doing menial tasks, but not fighting? Granted it was him they were up against, but even he could see they were barely a threat to anyone.

If most of the White Fang were like those during the so-called _test_ he'd done, he could understand why Neopolitan asked to hire him. They might've had the numbers with the White Fang, but quality had to be severely lacking. In fact, he doubted these insurgents, terrorists, freedom fighters, whatever they were labeled, could really fight a single full-fledged Huntsman.

Roman opened a door to what looked like would've been the manager's office for the warehouse. A table, a few chairs and some dusty filing cabinets. They must've only recently came here if they didn't even clear out rooms for better purposes.

"So, Sasuke, do you have any references?" Roman asked, having Neopolitan raising her hand. "I was joking, Neo." He turned back to the Uchiha. "Let me make it clear. We have a job coming up, so you can bet your ass I'll be doing a performance review in the end if you're worth the Dust I'm paying you. Why the hell do you want Dust anyway?"

Shrugging, he answered. "Because Dust prices have no fixed value and are precious resources, I believe it's a more reliable source of income than pure currency." It was more believable than saying he needed it to power scriptures for interdimensional travel.

Roman hummed in thought. "Can't say that's a bad idea, but you can't hide Dust so easily as money."

"I have my ways in hiding them and even a broker, you need not to concern yourself with that." It's called storage seals and the broker's name is Tatsuya.

"Whatever, but you mess this up and get the cops on my tail, you'll be getting cut," he said, and slid a finger across his neck. "And I don't just mean from future jobs." Sasuke could only nod. He had no intention of failing this, and woe to those who'd try to stop him from getting back home. "Good to hear. We have a job coming up soon, so I'll have you settle here on site, so go find yourself a cot for the time being."

"That won't be needed, I have lodging elsewhere in Vale," he answered, smothering his hesitance, because he knew the question was coming.

"Yeah, forget about it, you're living here," Roman said. "Can't go around leaving the new guy who-knows-where and possibly snitch on us."

Sasuke braced himself. "It would raise questions since I live at Beacon Academy." The reactions were exactly as he expected, not good. Neopolitan half unsheathed her blade, and Roman looked aghast at the development.

"Hold up," he said, his cane now firmly in his grasp. "You're telling me you live in Beacon?" Sasuke slowly nodded. He then turned to Neopolitan. "And you brought a Beacon student here."

"Don't misunderstand, I'm not a student, either," Sasuke quickly added. "I'm living there under special circumstances, but my allegiance is to myself and the contract." That didn't calm them much.

"Uh huh, sure." Roman raised the cane and aimed it at Sasuke's head. "Tell you what, I believe you, but stand still for a second." A blade was aimed at Torchwick's throat. "Neo~, what're you doing?"

"Not me," she answered from the side, looking cautiously at him.

He turned to see the red eyes of his assailant. "As I said, my loyalty is to myself and my employer," Sasuke said as his knife poked Roman's Aura from behind. "The headmaster thinks he rescued me from the woods, he hopes that I ally myself and my skills with him as he hosts my lodging away from council arms, but it's nothing but a dream." He dropped the knife. "I need Dust, the headmaster must not learn of my venture to get it."

Roman quickly turned and aimed his cane back at him, his other hand rubbing where the knife was. "You're quick, I'll give you that, but I just don't think it's going to work out." Neo put a hand on his cane and had it lowered, in an action that surprised even Sasuke. "Okay, Neo, _now_ what're you doing?"

"I think we can trust him," she said, her blade now fully sheathed into her parasol. "Come on, what's the worst that could happen?"

"What's the worst that could happen!? Oh I don't know, have a flock of Huntsmen raid us, take us to custody, then freeze in an Atlas prison, maybe? If not outright killed because someone we know doesn't want us to talk, how about that?"

Neo just shrugged, which even Sasuke was skeptical of her reasoning. He turned to Roman. "In the upcoming job, I can prove myself there," he said. "Before my village was destroyed, I was and am a mercenary. You pay me, you have my loyalty."

"Does Beacon know?" Neo asked, surprising Roman that she even considered this. "Does he know you're a mercenary?"

Sasuke scoffed. "He doesn't even know my ability to transform. All he knows is that I came from a village that was destroyed by Grimm, nothing more bar a few of my talents and skills that had him interested in the first place." Neo just nodded.

"You're just going to believe this!?" Roman half shouted at his companion. "You know he could be lying, right? An undercover agent for Ozpin meant to say what he could to trap us all, did you think about that?" Neo just shrugged, having Roman raise his arms up in the air in frustration.

"You know what? Sure, I'll take this monumental risk to my life, not an issue at all!" Roman pointed towards her. "I'll be blaming you if things go sideways. Also, we need to talk about trusting strangers." He then pointed to Sasuke. "You, if I so much as see a cop or a guy with a sword as big as me outside, so help me God."

He had no intention of losing this golden egg, and he'd be damn sure to maintain it. But along with that, he'd need to maintain his disguise as well. "For me to work with you and not get compromised, I'll need to disguise myself," he told Roman.

"Sure, why not," he answered disgruntled. "What do you need, a mask, or maybe a fur su-?" The Uchiha transformed into Gaara once more. "Right, I actually forgot about that. . ."

Gaara nodded. "While I'm in this form, refer to me as simply Gaara," he said in the Kazekage's voice, he then transformed back to his true Uchiha form. "For my safety concerns, I ask you refer to me only as such when seen in public."

"What hell kind of name is Gaara?" Roman shrugged his concerns away. "Whatever, you have your disguise, now let's talk about the plan. Of course, the really cut down version for our possibly-undercover-agent employee. After that, get out."

Sasuke just nodded and listened as the thief spoke. He understood Torchwick's concerns, but he was sure he'd prove his loyalty as a mercenary to him through his mission, no matter what.

* * *

The plan Roman had outlined was simple enough. Get to the docks, steal some freight containers, and leave before any of the police or Huntsmen show up. Should be a quick snatch and grab, a mission Sasuke had done several times before back home. For now, though, he would head back to Beacon. If he remembered correctly his 'compatriots' would have returned from their boring trip a few hours ago.

Sasuke walked through the halls until he heard shouting emanating from a crowd nearby. "It's your fault!" Sasuke kept hearing a familiar voice cry out. Having nothing better to do for the rest of the day, he made his way to the gathering of people.

The students who noticed the shinobi parted like the sea, none of them wanting to accidentally incur the wrath of the last Uchiha. Eventually Sasuke reached the edge of the surrounding circle and found an enraged Jaune Arc grabbing Cardin Winchester by the collar and shaking him. "It's your fault, you bastard!" he kept shouting.

"I didn't do anything! It was the Ursa!" Cardin's pleas were interrupted by Glynda as she made her way through the crowd with the remainder of team CRDL.

"That's quite enough, Mr. Arc." Glynda's tone was angry, but it wasn't directed at Jaune. "Follow me, Cardin. You and your team have a lot more explaining to do once we reach the headmaster's office."

Winchester gulped while being lead away from one angry blonde by another, and the audience soon dispersed. Leaving a clearly frustrated Jaune as he clenched his fist and glared down the hallway where team CRDL and Glynda left.

"Arc," was all Sasuke needed to say to get his attention. Other than a few students milling about and whispering, he and Jaune were the only ones there.

Jaune turned his head to see Sasuke simply standing there. "Hey," he let out irritably before he made his way elsewhere.

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow at the response from the usually timid Arc. Sasuke looked around to try and locate the remainder of Team JNPR or RWBY, but they were nowhere near the hallway he was in. _'This is very irregular,'_ he thought. Sasuke wanted to know what happened but did not wish to use the most obvious method to find out. After some internal debate, the Uchiha decided to take the calculated risk.

Sasuke sighed before making his way to the closest student, who _coincidentally_ was a girl like all the students that milled about nearby. "What happened just now?" He asked plainly.

The teenage girl in question, who stood stock-still as her Romeo came for her, deflated at the lack of fantasies coming true at the moment. But of course as a member of the Sasuke Fan Club, she wouldn't disappoint the Adonis before her. So she cleared her throat and spoke honestly. "Oh, that. Well, Arc was pissed because of an incident that happened during the field trip. I heard that _the_ Pyrrha Nikos was injured pretty badly in the end and was taken to the infirmary. Honestly, one would expect her to be better tha- Hey!"

The Uchiha ignored her continuous drawl and made his way to the infirmary, which was the same route Jaune took after he 'greeted' the Uchiha. Once he neared the doors leading to the infirmary he saw just outside of it were the members of team RWBY. They wore either concerned or angry faces, both of which were rare on the four girls in Sasuke's experience.

Ruby looked up and saw Sasuke making his way to them. "Oh, Sasuke, you just missed Jaune. I guess you heard, huh?" she said with less energy than usual.

"I only heard that Nikos was injured due to an incident on the field trip, nothing more," he replied.

Weiss scoffed. "You didn't hear nearly enough. It's a lot more serious than that."

Uchiha gave her his full attention, a rare occurrence, but it was bound to happen at some point. "Explain," he demanded.

The Heiress pursed her lips and began to retell the incident that had happened. "It seems that Cardin and his goons weren't happy with Pyrrha keeping Jaune away from them. So they decided to have a bit of revenge." She scowled at this point, just like the rest of her teammates did. "They threw jars of red sap at the both of them, and then released a swarm of rapier wasps."

"I doubt that it was wasps that injured Pyrrha," he stated during Schnee's pause.

Blake decided to continue for her teammate. "No, it was the Ursa Major that came out of nowhere. It was inches away from striking Jaune, but Pyrrha pushed him out of the way. Her arm took the swipe and was in pretty bad condition." She sighed. "Jaune killed the Ursa, but the damage had been done. If it wasn't for those damned wasps. . ."

Yang punched her open palm and spoke in rage. "Those bastards will pay for this." Her eyes transitioned from red to lilac and back several times, trying to keep calm.

"And what of the perpetrators?" Sasuke asked.

Weiss spoke with irritation, "they're in the headmasters office, last I heard. Possibly to expel them all together, and good riddance." Her teammates gave sounds of approval at her statement.

The infirmary door opened, revealing a saddened Nora, which was even more unusual than the faces made by team RWBY. "The nurse says you guys can come see her now," she said with much less enthusiasm than usual.

Team RWBY nodded and passed through the door, Sasuke following behind them wordlessly. They passed many open doors that indicated empty hospital rooms, before they reached one room where several doctors and nurses were coming out of. Inside were the three members of team JNPR surrounding Pyrrha, who was laying in her bed with a hospital gown on.

Pyrrha forced a tired smile and spoke in an equally tired voice, "Hey guys." She slowly sat up using her right arm, because the forearm of her left was missing from above the elbow, leaving only a bandaged stump.

Gasps resounded from team RWBY while Sasuke merely raised his eyebrows in surprise. _'She lost her arm while saving her friend from darkness. . . Why is this eerily familiar?'_ he mused. It didn't elude him that a prodigy and a blonde idiot were involved in the escapade.

"Those bastards," Yang seethed in a low voice as her eyes were blinking from lilac to red again.

"I'm. . . fine," she responded weakly, as the sedatives hadn't left her system entirely.

Jaune was frustrated with himself, and he grabbed and pulled on his hair. "It's my fault, I'm a failure as the leader. It's my fault!" Jaune yelled at the end.

He was then bonked on the head by Nora at the champion's request. "Thank you, Nora," Pyrrha said as she received a toothy smile and a victory sign from her usually energetic teammate. "Jaune, it was my choice." Her voice was still tired.

"B-But-" Jaune was again bonked on the head by Nora. She gave another smile to the nodding champion.

"Enough, Jaune. I'm. . . fine with this result."

Jaune remained quiet, he didn't think his head much more from Nora . He couldn't bear to hear how weak the champion's voice sounded either.

"So, what's gonna happen now?" Yang asked.

Pyrrha looked down and clenched her blanket, tears threatening to fall. "I-I'm going to leave Beacon for a while," she spoke with a slight hitch.

Immediately the atmosphere became gloomy, team RWBY couldn't believe that the Mistral champion and their friend was going to leave the academy. "Why?" The teams finally heard Sasuke's neutral voice for the first time since they entered Pyrrha's room.

Nikos gulped, recalling what the doctors had told her. "I need to be rehabilitated for my missing arm." She moved her right shoulder around, feeling discomfort. "It's gonna take a while to get used to, and the prosthetic I need will take time." She couldn't stop herself from crying. "I don't want to go back to Mistral, I want to stay."

Sasuke looked around to see sniffles coming from the more emotional humans and the hidden Faunus. "Hn," was all he said as Sasuke stepped backward to dodge a double elbow attack from Blake and Weiss to his sides. He looked indifferently at the both of them as they glared at him.

Weiss scowled at the Uchiha. "Be more sensitive to the situation! Don't just give your usual indifferent response like you don't care."

Pyrrha wanted to calm the Schnee heiress, she had enough drama these past few hours. "It's okay, really. It's not like there's anything anybody could do about this."

Weiss gave a final glare before looking away with a huff, but she heard Sasuke speak out again. "Everything will be fine," he said, and she became angry once again.

"Didn't you hear anything at all!?" Schnee snapped at him.

The Uchiha looked to Weiss and stated, "Yes, and everything will be fine." He felt a buzz in his pocket. Sasuke took out his scroll to find that Ozpin had, once again, called for him. "Seems Ozpin needs me again. I'll be leaving." He nodded to Nikos and left the room, leaving her with the two teams.

He didn't stay around to hear the heiress cursing him or the team's failed attempts to calm her down. He said that everything would be fine, and that was all they needed to know.

For now, though, he had to report to Ozpin for the usual talk about fitting in and such. As though his answer would change after a simple week or two. Or it was because Glynda complained about Sasuke's behavior and leeway that reduced her control to nil on him. Either way, he had something to do tonight.

* * *

"I am sorry to hear about what happened to your friend. I wish there were something we could do, but there is nothing," Ozpin said in a rather sympathetic voice. He sat in his office chair with Professor Goodwitch standing next to him, who was just as upset at what had occurred under her watch.

Sasuke nodded. _'Nothing you could do, but_ I _on the other hand. . .'_ He held back a visible frown at the unintentional bad pun. _'Yang's fault, surely.'_

"You don't seem all that upset," Glynda said. "I'd have assumed you were close friends with her."

Again, Sasuke nodded. "Pyrrha is not so weak to let this control her, I believe she will come back stronger than before from this." Glynda looked surprised at his confidence in the redhead's abilities. "She'll be distraught, but she'll pull through in the end."

Ozpin looked only at him in approval. "It's good to see that you think highly of your classmate, and I hope it is indeed the case. However I didn't call you here to just speak about her, but also of your performance in Beacon." He brought out a paper and looked through it. "Your grades are exemplary, enough so that I'd have placed you among the older years, but there is an issue of your attendance."

"I do believe due to our deal this shouldn't be a problem."

The headmaster nodded. "It normally wouldn't, but when you start missing over fifty percent of the classes, concerns were made obvious." He _had_ been missing quite alot. "Peach's class being most recent."

"I promised to go to some of these classes, but I found them too mind numbing to continue attending," Sasuke answered. Perhaps if he was attending classes of later years they'd be better, but that wasn't on the table.

Glynda was the one who came to those teachers' defense. "Mr. Uchiha, I assure you those classes were designed to prepare students for their responsibilities and Huntsmen," she said proudly.

Sasuke turned to look at her. "I'm not a student, I fully well know how to fight Grimm and survive out there." He looked pointedly at the deputy headmistress. "Or have you forgotten how I came to be here in the first place?" The lie, not the truth. "I do not say this to discredit your instructors, but to emphasize what I went through."

She held his gaze for a few seconds, but relented with a slow nod. Ozpin then said, "well, whith all that said, I ask that you reconsider your stand on attendance, if even for image's sake."

"I'll think about it." He wasn't, and it looked like Ozpin wasn't believing it.

The headmaster sighed. "With this meeting done, you may continue with your day, Mr. Uchiha."

The Uchiha gave a curt nod to both of them and received one in return before turning to the elevator. He kept eye contact with Ozpin when the doors closed. They had their deal, but he had to make sure the headmaster understood he wouldn't easily be controlled, no matter how much he thought he had a chance otherwise.

Besides, it made the headmaster fairly patient with his demands as long as it wasn't crossing a line.

When the doors opened, he saw a familiar face that immediately had him consider flickering away, and from how the beret woman looked approached him, he was once again her target. If this was going to be a common occurrence, he'd need to settle it before it got worse.

"You're here again," he said as she stopped a small distance away, further than an arms distance unlike last time. "You do realize that whatever it is you wish, I want none of it." Her gratitude was fine, it was the embrace he didn't want and would reject.

"Well hello to you too," she said. "And what can I say? I'm persistent to pay you back."

Sasuke could understand that, it was the same reason he helped Velvet in the first place, but this waiting outside of doors in hopes to find him needed to stop. And if his luck with persistent people was anything to go by, this wasn't going to stop.

"Then tell me, what do you want?" he asked. "Though mind you, leaving me alone is a better show of your gratitude."

She gave an unladylike snort. "Yeah, you can bet your ass that won't be the case, sorry." She didn't even sound the least bit apologetic. "Look, we can do this thing where I wait outside of each door waiting for you and annoy you, or we can have one little chat. C'mon, I'll even buy you a drink. . . or a belt."

"I'm busy." He needed to tell Tatsuya the time for a shipment of Dust he was about to 'receive' and send to Ryūchi Cave. Even if it would simply last a few minutes at most to relay and receive information, it would be better than having to deal with the woman before him.

"It won't take long, I promise!" She said as she lowered her head and put both hands together in a pleading form.

Sasuke considered ignoring the woman, but, again, given his bad track record with persistent peoplem he decided to get it over with. ". . . Only if you stop following me."

She lifted up her head to look at the Uchiha with a look of victory on her face if her smile had meant anything. "Deal!" Coco said cheerfully.

Sasuke sighed. "Lead the way."

Coco's smile broadened as she beckoned him to follow while she was walking away.

The Ex-avenger really hoped he wouldn't regret this decision. Following her through the halls of the academy, drawing the usual hushed whispers and barely disguised stares.

Coco whistled. "I honestly didn't think you were that popular," she said as she noticed the students around her. "I mean, I know there's a website dedicated to you and everything, but this really takes the cake."

The Uchiha snapped his head to Coco. "Website?" he asked. While he had become more or less adept at using a Scroll and he recognized some of Remnants technology, he had never heard of a 'website' before.

"Hmm?" The fashionista looked back to Sasuke and misinterpreted his question. "Yeah, almost like a shrine made for you online with. . . saucy pictures of you. Some look like the real deal too. Velvet visits the site often ever since you helped her out." She froze in place and gave him a sheepish chuckle. "Please don't tell her I told you that, it's hush-hush and _was_ only between us two," she pleaded.

Sasuke stopped listening to Coco ever since she said the word 'saucy'. Back home there were books and portraits about him, but without his consent for its steamy content. The same was happening in Remnant, only at a more technologically advanced editing level. _'This world is far too tiresome for me,'_ he thought irritably. "Doesn't matter," he replied.

Coco let out a relieved sigh. "Thanks. Velvet may seem timid, but believe me when I say that she isn't one to piss off. She's even working on something really damn strong, in the size of a purse to boot!" She said rather excitedly.

The information strengthened Sasuke's belief that nothing was as simple as it looked in this world. If Neo's umbrella and Roman's cane were anything to go by at least, and now purse-sized objects as well. He narrowed his eyes at Coco's handbag, wondering if that, too, was a weapon.

"We're at our first stop." Sasuke heard Coco say. They were walking towards the rabbit-eared Faunus he had helped previously as she was standing in front of the door.

Velvet's eyes widened at the sight of Sasuke and her team leader approaching her. When Coco had texted them that she was bringing a surprise, she didn't expect her to bring the one and only Sasuke Uchiha.

"Sup' Velvet, where are Fox and Yatsuhashi?" Coco asked her teammate.

The rabbit Faunus broke her little stare at the surprise guest to answer her teammate. "They're changing out of their uniform inside the room," she replied and looked back to Sasuke. "I-I didn't really think this was what you meant as a surprise, Coco."

The names kept getting weirder and weirder the longer he was in Remnant. Named after colors he could understand, but after beverages? And here he thought it was just a nickname she had when he heard it from Ozpin. "Your name is Coco?" Sasuke asked for clarification.

"Yep! Coco Adel, leader of team CFVY," she stated proudly before clapping her hands in realization. "I just realized I never introduced myself until now. Well, it doesn't matter anymore."

Velvet chuckled and turned to Sasuke. "It's good to see you again, Sasuke. I want to thank you again for helping me back then."

He just nodded, accepting her gratitude, though he wished it just ended there. Unfortunately the team leader had more in mind.

Coco decided to add something. "Trust me, she certainly wants to say more than thanks ." That got the Faunus to openly glare at her leader with a blush on her face, Coco responded by raising her arms placatingly. She was saved when the door opened to reveal Fox and Yatsuhashi in their combat gear.

"Alright Coco, what's the big surprise?" The behemoth of a young man Daichi asked before he spotted the Uchiha. "Ah, I see," he said neutrally.

"Velvet's fantasy man," added Fox, who was now under the red-faced scorn of his Faunus teammate.

"Uchiha, the big guy is Yatsuhashi and blank eyes is Fox," Coco introduced, happy Velvet's anger was directed elsewhere. Her two teammates greeted the Uchiha who responded with a grunt. "Now that the introduction is done, let's head out to Vale!"

* * *

 _'That was. . . not as bad as I had expected,'_ Sasuke thought as he returned from the trip to Vale with team CFVY. As older students with a decent reputation with the professors, they were allowed some privileges not usually given to the common first year-student.

"You sure you don't want to go back out? For something that you might need later," Coco said innocently from beside him.

The Uchiha scowled and turned to the team leader. "I do not require a damn belt, leave me be," he nearly yelled. When they weren't at the cafe or simply wandering around, Coco would attempt to drag him to the nearest clothing store to procure him a belt; it was becoming very irritating. The rope did its job, why would he need a strip of leather to do what's already being done!?

"Yeesh, just saying."

"To be fair, you were saying that every few minutes or so," said Yatsuhashi.

A look of pure betrayal came across Coco's face. "Et tu, Yatsuhashi!? Et tu?" She said rather dramatically before she became irritated. "Could you blame me? Who would use a rope? A rope!"

The Uchiha was becoming annoyed at the team leader. "It's just her way of showing that she's thankful," Sasuke heard Velvet whisper to him over the yelling of her team leader. It didn't matter to him, though, he would have been much happier if she left him be.

They neared the dorm room where they resided, so they gave their goodbyes. Letting out a sigh of relief Sasuke headed onward to his room. It was time to give Tatsuya the news of his latest Dust procurement plan.

On his way, he saw the saddened members of team JNPR entering their own room, without Pyrrha of course. It seemed that she would be staying at the infirmary for tonight. Nora looked up and noticed Sasuke, giving him a small silent wave and a smile, not the loud way she usually advertised her existence.

Sasuke returned it with a nod before entering his own room, quickly locking it and checking that the seals he had put up were in working order. The Uchiha went down on one knee, drew blood from his thumb, formed the hand seals and pressed his palm to the floor. " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu,** " he said silently.

He waited for the smoke to disappear to reveal Tatsuya, but something was different about him. "Summoner, we were eager to hear from you again," he said with a slight hiss.

"You grow rather quick," Sasuke mused out loud. The garter snake was certainly much taller compared to the last time he had met him. The size of two meters wasn't something animals could just decide to grow suddenly.

Tatsuya scoffed. "You humans are simply too slow." He stated as he lifted his head and pointed his eyes back to the Uchiha. "What news do you wish for me to relay?"

Sasuke went back to a business like tone. "I am working with a criminal of this world, and the Dust I am to be paid with is decent. Tell the wise elder to expect a steady supply soon."

The snake nodded its head. "Understood. The blonde friend and the leader of your den wish to know of your status here in this world. What do you wish for me to tell them?"

The Uchiha lifted his head in thought then looked back to the snake. "Tell them I should be home soon, I'm not focusing on anything other than the mission to return." The snake nodded and vanished from Remnant.

Sasuke sighed and sat on his bed, patiently waiting for night to fall. It had been a while since he used the Rinnegan, he hoped it wasn't rusty from disuse.

Once night fell Sasuke silently exited the room and jumped up to walk on the ceiling. He casually walked while upside down until reaching the infirmary doors. He waited for someone to exit, and before long a nurse clocked out as her replacement arrived.

Before the doors fully shut Sasuke slipped inside, staying on the ceiling. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and walked until he was above the nurse that had just clocked in. He clicked his tongue and the nurse looked up to see the Sharingan-eyed ninja.

"Who are yo-" She fell silent, eyes glazed over under the illusionary technique. She stood up and made her way to another computer, tapping a few keys that shut down all of the cameras in the infirmary. The nurse went back to her seat and decided to sleep, she would forget about things in the morning, or when her replacement came and decided to wake her up.

With a grunt of approval, Sasuke dropped to the floor and walked out of the office. He made his way to the room Pyrrha was in, already hearing the sound of faint crying. He stood in front of the door that contained the champion Pyrrha Nikos and opened it.

Once the door opened, it revealed a single armed Pyrrha with her head on her knees. "I thought I asked you to leave me alone," she said in frustration.

"You haven't asked anything of me," Sasuke replied dully.

Pyrrha snapped her head up to the voice, she expected to see the irritating nurse that wouldn't stop asking of her wellbeing, but she only found Sasuke in his usual bored expression. "Sasuke? What are you doing here?" she asked as she wiped away any remaining tears off her face. "You're not suppo-"

"Do you want your arm back?" he interrupted her. He liked Pyrrha, maybe not much as a friend, but more of a warrior's comradery sort of way. Plus, he felt somewhat responsible for her actions, even if a smidgen. Who knows what the result would have been if he had left the issue with Jaune alone.

The champion glared at the Uchiha. "Of course I want my arm back! You have no idea what it's like to lose a limb!" She snapped, not even noticing the small grin that flashed on the Uchiha's face. "If you're here to mock me, I swear I will-"

"I can give you your arm back," he interrupted her a second time. Pyrrha looked at him as if he grew a second head, and stiffened as his left eye transitioned to a lavender color with multiple rings surrounding the pupil.

She was mesmerized by the eye, they were hypnotic and almost glowing, but she shook her head from the trance. Pyrrha looked to him. "What do you mean? You can't simply give me my arm back."

"And if I can?"

She pursed her lips and spoke, "Then I would be thankful. What's in it for you?"

Sasuke ignored her question and made several seals. "The experience is not a pleasant one," he stated as purple fire erupted on the floor beside him where a giant head-like structure started rising from.

Pyrrha gasped as the demon head of the Naraka path fully materialized. "W-What is that!?" She screamed.

The Uchiha took some amusement from her reaction, and introduced the demonic head. "This is the King of Hell, the one who will restore your arm." The King opened its mouth wide enough for a person to sit inside, revealing it's teeth and tongue. "Go inside the mouth," Sasuke instructed

Pyrrha looked shocked at the command as the demon head opened its gaping mouth. "You can't expect me to believe that this. . . _thing_ will help me."

He asked her again monotonously, "Do you want your arm back?"

"Of course I want it back!" She yelled in anger. "How would that thing get it back!?"

Sasuke sighed at her reluctance and spoke two words he hadn't said in a long time. "Trust me."

Pyrrha was silent, she knew Sasuke was one of little jokes and was of simple pleasures. Even though he had great skill, bringing back a missing limb was never heard of in the history of Remnant.

Although, he was a mystery and remained so, even with weeks she had known him. "Do you promise my arm will be back when we're done?"

Sasuke nodded. She sat there silently in thought. "Fine, what do I have to do?" Pyrrha asked.

He pointed to the tongue inside the mouth, and Pyrrha gulped and stood from her bed, waddling her way to the front of the head while gripping her stump. She stopped short and looked to the Uchiha. "Could you lower its teeth?"

"That won't be necessary," he replied in slight amusement.

She was about to question him when arms from the demonic head reached out and grabbed her, causing even the champion to scream as she was pulled abruptly into the King of Hell. She quieted down, before shrieking out in pain, only muffled by the demonic head.

Sasuke stopped his flow of Chakra towards the head after sensing his work was complete, and that the screaming had died down. The King opened it's mouth and dispersed from existence, revealing Pyrrha Nikos on the floor. She was on her knees, grasping where her stump used to be.

"Congratulations," Sasuke said dryly.

Pyrrha looked to the Uchiha, then to her new left arm, staring at the new appendage in disbelief. She moved her new arm around, touched it, flexed her fingers and made a fist. It was really there, not a phantom arm, not a dream, but actually there. She gripped her wrist and started crying. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I won't ever forget this," she said through her hitching voice.

"Somehow I doubt that."

The now double-armed champion moved her teary eyes to the Uchiha for clarification, but she only saw the red eyes of the Sharingan. She slumped forward, only to be caught by the Uchiha, who picked her off the ground and placed her back in bed. She would wake up and suddenly find an arm where it should be missing without knowing where it came from, it would certainly make for an interesting morning.

He tossed the blanket over her and left the room, walking past the nurse who was asleep before cracking the door open steadily. Once it opened far enough, he flickered to the ceiling and made his way to his dorm room.

Sasuke laid on his bed, recalling what happened that day. He made a deal with Torchwick and his gang, returned to find one of his acquaintances missing an arm possibly due to his action, went out to Vale with an insufferable fashionista and her group, and helped Pyrrha grow her arm back. _'I wonder what will happen tomorrow,'_ Sasuke pondered. "One step at a time," he thought out loud.

* * *

 **Roman: You don't know who I am? I'm Roman Torchwick, thief extraordinaire, you must've heard of me!**

 **Sasuke: The same Roman Torchwick who was beaten by a girl barely fifteen?**

 **Roman: Fake news!**

* * *

 **I fought long and hard not add that in the chapter, but I guess I technically did.**

 **Trivia:**

 **1- Every time I wrote 'Neopolitan', I always misspelled it as 'Neopolitican' at first, and every damn time. Even when I wrote it just now; the curse continues.**

 **2- In Chapter four, Sasuke was meant to transform into Sasori. But my benevolent beta-reader** **ShadowofheartsXIII** **pointed out that Sasuke never met Sasori in any shape or form, so we fixed it into Gaara. Did I ever tell you how awesome Shadow is?**

 **3- While people grew up watching Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon, I grew up watching Tekken Chinmi, Thunder Jet: Galaxy Wars, and Detective Conan.**

 **Trivia 3 still sucks.**


	6. Too Proud To Ask For Advice

.

 **Chapter 6**

 **At this point, I'm just putting in a shorter AN so I can put in the rhymes. . . ah well, at least it's short, especially compared to how big this AN used to be.**

* * *

 **There Are Times Where I'm Stuck Wondering How To Continue; All I Can Hope For Is That The Results Are Enjoyable For You!**

* * *

 **Chapter Six: Too Proud To Ask For Advice**

Sasuke woke up the next day feeling refreshed and with his Chakra reserves full. Restoring Pyrrha's arm had taken a large bite out of the Uchiha's Chakra reserves. Not a big one, but large enough to be noticed. Though now he had done his good deed for the week, so it was worth the effort.

He heard running from outside that quickly faded away, most likely Team JNPR had just been informed of the change in their champion's condition. Sasuke got out of his bed and did his hygienic responsibilities just like every other morning. After finishing he then transformed his shinobi garb into the official Beacon uniform; prepared to go see the fruits of his labor from the night before.

The Uchiha walked out of the room and looked to the side to see that team RWBY was standing idly. "Morning, Sasuke," Ruby greeted while she leaned on the wall by her teammates. "Wanna wait for Jaune and the guys with us?"

"They left not long ago," Sasuke stated. "I believe they're making their way to Pyrrha's side as we speak."

Weiss perked up with a realization. "Oh, so that was them running I heard. I guess they want to be with Pyrrha as long as possible before her departure." She sighed sadly.

If Sasuke was the whiskered friend of his, he would have had an I-know-something-you-don't smirk on his face, but he wasn't. He settled with simply walking down the hall.

Ruby sped to the Uchiha's side with the rest of her team. "We were thinking of going to see Pyrrha before she leaves, you wanna come with us?" she asked him.

Sasuke shrugged and joined his acquaintances as they walked towards the infirmary. He ignored their good wishes for Pyrrha and her 'former' teammates as they neared the infirmary doors.

"How do you think they're gonna take it?" Yang wondered, not aiming her question at anyone specific.

Blake frowned. "Not well. You saw how Jaune was yesterday, I don't think today will be any better," she answered her blonde comrade. "Nora and Ren were friends for a long time, so they have each other. Jaune, on the other hand. . ." The Faunus shook her head and let out a sigh.

Yang mimicked her friends face and turned to the Uchiha. "What do you think, Sasuke?" she asked.

The shinobi gave her a simple answer when the doors were in sight. "We'll find out soon enough," he replied casually as they walked past the infirmary gate.

When they stood in front of the Champion's room, they heard muffled crying which saddened team RWBY. Yang opened the door, which revealed an interesting scene to those just outside the room; even Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

The crying had not been coming from Pyrrha, but from Jaune as he wrapped his arms around the bedridden and miraculously recovered woman, giving her quite a hug. He was ignorant of the audience consisting of a male doctor, the childhood friends of JNPR, team RWBY, a shinobi, and the headmaster.

The victim of the hug, however, was beet-red in the face from the open and intimate display of affection. Jaune of course was oblivious as ever. Except when a sudden look of realization of his surroundings crossed his face and he stood stiffly. The warrior's face was as red as his recovered teammate's hair.

"S-S-Sorry!" he apologized loudly. "I-I-I-I don't know w-what got over me."

Pyrrha brought both of her hands to her face to cover up any redness. "I-It's fine, really," she assured him. They both looked around to see their little audience.

Nora was wiping away tears with a smile, Lie Ren and Ozpin were just standing idly by with a grin on their faces, while the doctor and Sasuke stood there with neutral expressions. Team RWBY, however, were gobsmacked for two reasons: First, was that Jaune showed his affection so openly. Secondly, was that Pyrrha now had _both_ her arms.

It was more the second than the first, couldn't really say a hug would trump a regrown arm. "Pyrrha, you have both your arms!" Ruby stated the obvious.

After her blush died down, she raised her left arm up to eye level, spotting what had been missing merely hours ago. "I still can't believe it," she thought out loud. "How could this happen?" she asked no one in particular.

The doctor decided to answer. "We don't know," he said. "What I do know, however, was that it wasn't a natural healing." His statement had brought surprise to teams JNPR and RWBY, and only them.

"What do you mean, doctor?" Ozpin asked with furrowed brows.

The healer raised his Scroll up and enlarged it to the size of a clipboard. "At first, we believed that Miss Nikos' Aura may have had a hand in healing her arm, but evidence suggested that it could be something else entirely. At least, _someone_ else entirely."

Sasuke was reviewing what he had done during the night before, thinking of what could possibly have given him away. _'All the cameras in the infirmary were off, nobody saw me and. . . Ah, that could be why,'_ he thought with mild relief.

"When a nurse came to clock in, he had found the nurse for the night shift asleep, but with the cameras completely shutdown," the doctor continued. "The nurse said she couldn't remember anything from last night, however. It could be because of negligence, but the security camera caught something." He lifted his Scroll to the audience and played a video.

It showed the nurse Sasuke had hypnotized simply sitting in her chair. A click was heard, then the nurse looked up and spoke a half question before she stopped stiff. She made her way to another computer and tapped a few keys, that was when the playback ended.

The camera's frame wasn't high enough to spot him on the ceiling, a fortunate thing for the Uchiha. _'I might have to thank Naruto again,'_ he thought with a mental smirk.

"Someone came into the infirmary and healed Miss Nikos," the doctor stated and turned to the red-haired champion. "We would like to run a few tests on the arm, to make sure everything is in place correctly. If there was anything else that had been added, it's best we that know as soon as possible."

Pyrrha responded by gripping her own left wrist. "What kind of tests are you implying?" she asked hesitantly. She would rather not risk losing her new arm, regardless of the reason.

The doctor tapped on his Scroll a bit before he responded, "harmless scans for the most part, and maybe a blood test." Pyrrha pursed her lips and eyed her miracle arm, then nodded to the doctor. "Alright, all of that should take us a few hours. So let's get started." He then turned to the teams and smiled. "You will have your friend back soon, but please leave us for now."

The remainder of team JNPR and RWBY looked to Pyrrha, who smiled at their concern. "It's gonna be alright, I'll see you guys later," she assured them. They nodded and exited the room, with Sasuke in tow.

Outside in the empty hallway in front of the infirmary, Jaune hugged the closest person he could find. The unfortunate victim would have been the last Uchiha, but he switched places with Nora. "She's gonna stay!" he exclaimed happily as he jumped with Nora, who hugged back and shouted out with him.

Weiss wasn't sure what to make of it, nobody could grow an arm back, unless there was someone with a unique semblance. Even then, why would the person go out of their own way to heal a mere student, even if it was _the_ Pyrrha Nikos. "Is nobody going to ask why her arm is back?" the heiress asked her company. "I'm happy that Pyrrha's fine and all, but I can't help but wonder why someone would do that for her."

"Who cares? I want to thank whoever helped her out," Jaune replied to the Schnee.

"You want to give 'em a hug too? When did you get so bold, Jaune?" Yang teased her fellow blond, who responded by going red in the face. "Although, Pyrrha didn't look like she minded your _embrace_." Sasuke swore steam was coming out of Jaune's ears.

Weiss stepped in, she didn't like her thoughts being sidestepped. "Could you please take this a bit more seriously!? Who knows who could have done this, and for whatever reason," she said irritably. The world didn't work like that to her, it was usually give and take.

Blake sighed in exasperation. "She's right. There has to be a reason for whoever it was out there that helped Pyrrha grow her arm back," she stated. Before she blinked several times and looked to the Uchiha. "Do you know anything about this?" she asked him curiously.

Sasuke shook his head. "I know nothing of what happened," he lied. He briefly wondered how telling them that he had an eye capable of ending worlds, healing the near-dead, and raising the deceased would sound. Rinnegan was certainly a powerful eye, capable of bending reality to it's very limits and beyond.

"Wait, you said that everything would be fine, you must have known something like this would happen," Weiss accused with a frown. Sasuke shrugged as a reply and Weiss scowled. "You had something to do with it, didn't you!?" she shouted.

Both teams had stopped their celebrations quite a while ago to watch the argument, but only now did they remember Sasuke's words the previous day. The three of JNPR were especially confused, they were most certainly friends with Sasuke in their own eyes, but wondered that if he had indeed healed Pyrrha, why would he deny it?

Lie Ren came to Sasuke's defense. "Weiss, his semblance is clones, remember?" he said. "While he is also capable of making his opponent fall unconscious, I don't think regrowing an arm is close to any category similar to those two."

"But what about what he said yesterday?" the heiress defended. "There's no way he could have guessed this would happen."

Sasuke gave Ren a thankful nod, but he could defend himself. "Pyrrha is strong. I doubt something as losing an arm would stop her," he said truthfully. "What I meant that day was that Pyrrha would adapt and become stronger," he half-lied. _'If Naruto and I could, then so could she.'_

Weiss' anger downgraded to a simple confused frown. "How would _you_ know that she would become stronger from losing an arm?" she asked him.

Sasuke unconsciously flexed his left hand. "Because Pyrrha is that kind of person," he replied. "Prodigies do not allow themselves to degrade, regardless of what happens."

The Heiress scowled then walked up to the ninja and poked his chest. "This _isn't_ over," was all she said as she walked away, before the rest of her team ran after her. As they left, Blake turned and gave Sasuke a calculating stare, before quickly following her teammates.

Which left Sasuke alone with Arc, Valkyrie, and Ren. The three of them were staring at the Uchiha. Whatever it was they were expecting had to wait for later, as the infirmary doors opened to reveal Ozpin.

"Mr. Uchiha, glad to see that you are still here. If you could follow me, I have a few things I would like to ask," the headmaster asked the shinobi. He turned to the other three. "Off to your classes, you will be the first to know when Miss Nikos is free from the infirmary."

The three members of JNPR looked to each other before they thanked the headmaster and left, even if a little reluctantly. Ozpin would be sure to let them know when their precious friend could rejoin them.

"walk with me," the headmaster beckoned, having Sasuke follow him side-by-side as they wandered the halls of Beacon. "Mr. Uchiha, I heard what Miss Schnee said mere moments ago," Ozpin stated.

 _'Are all the doors in Remnant incapable of keeping noise out?'_ Sasuke thought irritably. How many times had someone outside heard a private conversation of the Uchiha's? He started to believe that the door to his dorm might be a one-of-a-kind in all of Beacon for keeping in private chats; but only thanks to his seals.

Oblivious to the Uchiha's internal complaint, Ozpin continued as he kept his eyes forward, "I must admit, I had similar thoughts when I heard Miss Nikos' arm was simply found whole again."

"Then you must have heard my response," Sasuke replied dully as they walked. "Toss away your suspicions, I _do_ _not_ have abilities to regenerate lost limbs. My medical knowledge goes as far as field medicine, nothing more."

"I'm not insinuating anything about you, Mr. Uchiha," he said. "I'm fully aware your Semblance is making clones of yourself, but I do wonder if perhaps you knew anyone who could regrow an entire arm." The question was a loaded one, painfully so.

On the top of his head he could name Kabuto, Orichimaru, Naruto, and Lady Tsunade, but it wasn't like he was going to tell Ozpin. "Why would it matter? They're dead." He gave the statement an added bitterness.

Ozpin nearly smirked, he didn't say no. "Perhaps, but do you believe someone with such knowledge wouldn't be able to survive with such advanced medical knowledge?"

The Uchiha frowned. Of course they wouldn't die so easily. "Then let me rephrase. Why would they come here specifically to heal Pyrrha Nikos, who by all means is a complete stranger?" He felt like he was being lured, bait hanging in the air in the form cunning words, but he wouldn't bite. Couldn't afford it.

"Perhaps it was a technique that was able to be trained into others, like your ability to knock someone out with nothing but your eyesight." Ozpin noticed he could only hear his steps, and turned to see his pseudo-student standing there with a frown.

"You think I was able to heal Nikos?" he asked, almost astounded at such a foolish notion. "Your word games are your own, but I shall say this again. I played no part in the healing of Pyrrha, for if I did, I would tell her."

Ozpin just hummed in a humoring way. "Perhaps you're right. Forgive this old man, his imagination was getting ahead of himself."

This bastard. Sasuke guessed Ozpin either knew and didn't want to drag him into a corner defensively, or he didn't and Sasuke was just being paranoid. Unfortunately, he couldn't help but feel it was the former. "If you have nothing more to add, I have classes to attend." Any excuse would do fine as long as it got him out of this.

The headmaster nodded wisely as he always did, but just before Sasuke turned to leave, he added, "Mr. Uchiha, while I do understand the need for caution, do try trusting your new peers here, I'm certain they'd care more to be your friends than you think."

The Uchiha just nodded and turned to leave. _'My real friends are elsewhere.'_

* * *

It had been hours since they last met Pyrrha, and when Sasuke met with the headmaster. Now, Ruby's team and the three remaining of Jaune's team were waiting across the infirmary doors in their uniforms. Jaune had received a message that told him Pyrrha was to be released soon, so they had been given permission to come see her at the infirmary gates.

"W-What if something happened?" Jaune's pessimism showed its head every few minutes or so. "Maybe they had to remove the arm. Could an arm be defective? Oh no, they removed her arm, didn't they?-Ow!" A bonk on the head from Nora was usually the preferred method of silencing the Arc.

"Don't worry, Jaune, I'm sure Pyrrha is fine and eager to get another hug from you," Yang stated with a twitching straight face, which broke into a laugh when Jaune groaned. For the life of her, she couldn't 'Sasuke' through a joke.

Ruby patted her first friend at Beacon on the back. "Don't worry Jaune, Yang does that to everyone," she said as she she attempted to glare at her sister, which was as frightening and adorable as an angry newborn. "Back to the point, Pyrrha's fine, I'm sure. Right, Sasuke?" she asked the shinobi.

The Uchiha just nodded plainly as he leaned on the walls with his arms crossed. He would rather stare at grass than go through another one of Port's so-called lectures, the never ending drawl never seemed to stop. Thankfully, Ruby had invited him to come and see Pyrrha together with the rest of them.

Port, who was so moved at the bond of friendship between students, had actually gone into a new lecture about loyalty. Perhaps Ozpin was right when he said they would be his friends if they saved him from that demise. Sasuke felt a little ghost of guilt that he would have to leave them abruptly at some point, though the Uchiha quickly got over it.

"Your riveting speech rings true in our hearts, Sasuke," Weiss said sarcastically. She was still somewhat irritated at the Uchiha for before, but it had died down to a slow simmer since then. He ignored her regardless, though.

The infirmary doors finally opened, and out walked a uniformed Pyrrha, in her double-armed splendor. She didn't expect to have the eyes of two teams and a shinobi on her the moment she walked out. "H-Hey guys," she greeted them.

Jaune stood up as though he was an official, he crossed his arms behind his back, raised his nose into the air slightly, cleared his throat and spoke formally, "Pyrrha Nikos, as the leader of this team, I am happy to hear you are fine and well."

Jaune walked closer until he was in arms distance of his recovered teammate, then stuck his hand out for a handshake.

"We, at team JNPR, would be honored to have you back," Arc said with actual pride, as though he hadn't been rehearsing the speech in his mind for the past few minutes. He waited for Pyrrha to take his hand, but only heard chuckling. He looked forward to see Pyrrha covering her giggles with her hand, which made his face redden in embarrassment. "D-Did I do something wrong?"

Pyrrha cleared her throat of the giggles, although a smile remained on her face. "No, you did nothing wrong, Jaune," she said reassuringly. She then took his still-outstretched hand and shook it. "I would be happy to come back to your team." Now it was Jaune's turn to smile.

They broke contact when they heard sniffling behind them, they turned to see Ruby, Blake, Nora and Yang openly crying, wiping away tears when they could. Weiss refused to show her face, but faint sniffling could be heard, and the wipe of the eyes now and then were a dead give away.

Ren covered his face with his hand to hide his embarrassment from viewing the awkward way Jaune handled the situation. Sasuke sighed and shook his head at the scene around him.

Yang spoke through her tears, "That. . . was the dorkiest and most romantic thing I have ever seen." Sounds of approval sounded from her surrounding female teens; even from Weiss.

Blake spoke second, "I thought these only happened in books." She then proceeded to blow her nose in a handkerchief.

The small feeling of guilt Sasuke had for leaving them previously disappeared in an instant. In fact, he had never been so eager to leave until that moment.

He stayed behind and let them walk forward ahead of him till they reached the cafeteria. The Uchiha didn't really want to be part of whatever conversation and questions, so he allowed team JNPR their time together. Besides, he knew what the answers were.

"It was like I woke up to a dream," Pyrrha said. Recounting the story of her morning at the nearly empty cafeteria. Team JNPR, RWBY and Sasuke were given a day of freedom by the headmaster. "Even now I'm worried that this is all just a dream I'll wake up from." She lifted her arm and tested it by clenching her fist, making sure it was real. "I just woke up, and my arm was there. All I did was stare at it until a nurse came by, he was the one who informed the doctor about me." She placed her left forearm on the table for everyone to see; especially herself.

"Whoa, that's so freaky," Ruby said as she leaned in to poke Pyrrha's new arm. Weiss forced her back to sit down, she knew very well what her leader intended.

The champion nodded, sneaking a peek at the Uchiha with a look of confused familiarity on her face. Pyrrha then shook her head lightly to get rid of whatever thought she had.

Sasuke noticed, his Sharingan illusion was perfect, so hopefully, a ghost of Déjà vu was all that was coming over Pyrrha. If not, then he would have to go with more serious techniques. If those didn't work. . .

The redhead looked to the younger team leader. "Yes it is," she said as she rolled her left shoulder. "After you guys left, the people at the infirmary did multiple scans on my arm, the results weren't anything special. As far as they could tell, it was as if my arm was never removed."

The heiress stood up from her seat. "Well, I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say that we're all happy to have you back," she stated before she peeked her eyes to Sasuke, then back Pyrrha. "Do you have any idea who could have done this, though?" She was far from letting the subject drop, at least so soon.

Yang answered her instead of the champion, "well, she does have a lot of fans, it could have been any of them." Indeed, Pyrrha was the poster girl for many Huntsmen and Huntresses; in training or otherwise.

"But I doubt someone with that kind of ability would be hidden," Weiss responded. "Even if it was, I don't think someone could find that out about Pyrrha so quickly and respond even quicker." The champion's arm hadn't been lost for even half a day, yet someone powerful found out about it and acted post-haste? Unlikely.

"Guys, guys!" Jaune exclaimed. "You're forgetting about what's really important! Pyrrha's back and here to stay. Isn't that what really matters?"

Sasuke had to admit that Jaune was an idiot; again. It was one thing to accept a gift from someone you know, it was something else entirely to find an extravagant gift from an unknown. Even if that unknown was Sasuke, but they didn't know that. Suspected? Sure. Knew? Never.

"A shame that team CRDL was reinstated at Beacon, though," Ren stated. The whole point for their expulsion had been for permanently maiming a student. Now that Pyrrha was no longer maimed, the expulsion had been changed to suspension.

"Don't remind me," Jaune growled. He wasn't happy Cardin and his stooges would come back at some point. If they weren't careful this time around, Arc would show them exactly what would happen if they stepped out of their place. At least, after Pyrrha finished coaching him.

"Can we not spend the time talking about them?" Blake said with a small frown. "Weiss had the idea of us visiting Vale someday soon, would you guys like to join us?" she asked team JNPR, who shook their heads.

Jaune's team were going to spend as much time as they could training their leader to at least acceptable level. Which was going to be a task in itself, but hopefully with the power of friendship, they could overcome any obstacle! That was how Nora had put it.

Ren shook his head. "We're sorry, but we have other things planned," he replied then pointed to Jaune with his head. "We need to help him become stronger."

Nora started to exclaim, "It'll be hard, but with the power of friendship, we cou-"

"Nora, please don't finish that sentence," Nora's childhood friend interrupted and pleaded. It was difficult to continue living after he heard it the first time.

Blake smiled at the two of them, then turned to Sasuke. "How about you?" she asked him.

The Uchiha thought for a moment and responded to the Faunus, "I have plans this week, I don't think it's possible." He intended to visit the docks where the heist would take place, and then join Roman for the job the next night, he would probably join the team if he ran into them. As long as nothing odd happened.

"C'mon! It'll be fun," Yang tried reasoning with the Uchiha. Of course, the term 'fun' and 'Sasuke' are never found in the same sentence without the term 'is not'. Sasuke shook his head to the blonde teen, denying her request, which resulted in her pouting, "You're no fun, you know that?" A statement that had been repeated several times in his own world, and now in Remnant as well.

* * *

Walking around Vale again had become quite a chore for the last Uchiha. Today he was walking close to the docks that was intended for tomorrow night's Dust heist. Supposedly it would go smoothly since nobody but White Fang would be there; the less opposition the better in Sasuke's book.

Peering over the railing, he looked to the horizon across the vast ocean, taking in a deep breath of the sea air. The last Uchiha stood there for a moment as he looked out at the vast ocean. Memories drifted back to him of when he went with Suigetsu to collect Karen, his first mission in the Land of Waves, the day when he was a child and his family had gone to the beach.

Sasuke was suddenly hit with the very gravity of his situation, _'I am in a completely different world,'_ he thought sourly. _'I'm. . . all alone.'_ Yes, he knew he was in a different world, but the gravity of it had never hit him until just then.

He was the only Uchiha to ever be in Remnant, the only shinobi to ever exist on Remnant. No matter how far he traveled, even by those 'space ships' in the movies, he could never reach his home again.

He needed to rip a hole in reality to return home as though it was paper, something he, and only he, was somewhat capable of. If the plan with the White Snake Sage failed, Remnant would become the prison for his mistakes in his search for more power. He would grow old without seeing how the people important to him were doing. He would ra-

"Salutations!" A rather cheery voice broke Sasuke out of his pessimism party.

Considering his previous thoughts, he had no patience for fools. He turned to the newcomer with a heavy scowl on his face. "Begone, girl," he said rudely to the girl with the pink bow and orange hair.

"Oh, my apologies," the weird girl said happily. "It's just that I can't seem to find my way around. What are the chances of your assistance?"

Sasuke fully faced the annoying girl. "Did you not hear me? I told you to leave me be," he said angrily while he gave off a decent amount of killing intent to frighten the girl off. He blinked several times when he noticed she wasn't even affected by it, she even spoke just as joyfully as before.

"Actually, you said 'Begone' and 'girl'," she pointed out as though doing a favor, not even noticing the increase in killing intent. Sasuke's effect had other people around them either shaking or dropping to the ground. "Anyway, I seem to be lost, could you help me?" Even her smile was undeterred.

"What are you?" he asked suspiciously, his hand ready to grab Kusanagi at a moment's notice.

The young orange-haired girl blinked at the odd question. "Hmm? I'm Penny. Salutations!" the now-named Penny exclaimed.

The Uchiha stopped his killing intent with a frown. "You already said that," he informed. He looked around to see people picking themselves up before running away from the area, or continued to lay on the ground shaking.

Penny looked into space for a moment. "So I did," she replied just as cheerfully as before. Something was certainly wrong with this one, not enough shurikens in the weapon's pouch.

That didn't ease Sasuke's suspicion or irritation. "I don't have the patience for you," he stated with a frown as he began walking to the center of town.

He was going into a dark place a few moments ago, he had to have faith that he would get out of this situation. If he didn't have faith in himself or the Snake Sage, then that was fine, but he couldn't give up faith in Naruto. That bull-headed, loudmouthed ninja tended to surprise-

"Hello again." Sasuke heard Penny gleeful voice once more, but from beside him.

Sasuke stopped walking and faced the weird girl with irritation clear on his face. "Did I not tell you to leave me be?" he asked rhetorically to the puppet.

"You did, yes," she clarified, completely oblivious to the common facial expressions of irritation and anger. Especially the ones that crossed the Uchiha's face.

Now Sasuke gripped Kusanagi's hilt, but kept it in its sheath. "And why are you following me?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"Well," she began with a smile. "After you left, I asked one of the people napping on the ground where I could find help, and then he pointed to-" She pointed to the direction the Uchiha was going. "-that direction." Sasuke assumed that the person had just pointed to the reason for his condition. Her smile through the entire explanation was unnerving.

Before he could reply the Uchiha took a step back to avoid a blonde monkey Faunus from colliding with him, along with some police officers. He looked to the Faunus in question, who turned his head to give him a thumbs up and an irritatingly familiar smile. Blondes. . . the most irritating people in Sasuke's world.

The Uchiha gave an exasperated sigh before using the switching technique with Penny to avoid being collided with a familiar face; Weiss.

"Ooow, what in the world!?" Weiss exclaimed. She looked around and spotted the Faunus she was chasing after getting out of sight with the police right behind him. "Damn it! We lost him."

"Uh, Weiss?" Yang said as she pointed to Penny, then looked to the Uchiha. "Hey, Sasuke," she greeted then looked to the girls on the ground. "Is she one of yours?" Sasuke was losing patience very quickly from the odd form of events.

The heiress got up with a start. "Wah!" she yelled in surprise. "I know I hit her, but I swear I saw Uchiha right before I collided." She glared at the shinobi. "You could have just stepped back."

Sasuke ignored both Yang and Weiss, but pointed to Ruby. "You," he exclaimed irritably, which got the young leader to jump backwards with an 'eek!', then pointed to the robot girl who was still on the ground. "Handle this," he demanded before he began to walk away. _'If one more thing like that happens, I might just kill someone.'_

Ruby looked between the girl on the ground then to the Uchiha's back and back to the girl before slumping over. "Why does it have to be me?" she groaned sadly. Blake could only pat her on the back in a form of comfort.

* * *

 _'This needs to go well,'_ Sasuke thought, sitting on a crate in a different warehouse than the one he met Roman in. It was close enough to the docks, but most importantly because its size was able to hold a few Bullheads for the journey.

He'd been here for an hour now, and he'd been counting the seconds that approached. It was the first _active_ action he took to get himself home, and was a deciding factor to get Torchwick to believe that he's loyal to the contract.

In fact, here he comes now. "So how's our little intern doing?" Roman asked as approached him, cane still in hand firmly, a sign of his caution. "Just kidding, I don't care as long as nothing suspicious happens." Yes, Torchwick would be watching the hell out of him, as he said several times before. "Though I do admit you're looking rather nervous for a hardened mercenary. You're not afraid of possibly seeing blood, are you?"

Sasuke frowned at that, and turned to the thief and gave him a dose of killing intent. "Jitters is hardly what I have, or would you rather see me prove it."

"Easy there, kid," Roman said after taking an involuntary step back. "Remember who's paying you." The sudden feeling of pressure was gone, and he let out a quick breath. "Honestly, I think I'm just starting to see why Neo picked you out."

"Besides the subpar quality of the White Fang?"

Roman snorted. "Believe me, kid, I can't stand them, but I've got no choice. Honestly, I have a reputation to keep, but it is what it is." He shrugged with a sad sigh. "Well, get yourself ready, we have some Dust to steal," he said before walking away.

Strolling up, Roman saw how the animals around him were performing last maintenance of the Bullheads. _'If my luck's as good as it was, we'll be crashing before reaching the docks.'_ Damn Cinder and her conditions. If she wanted Dust, he knew how to do it, but these mongrels were important. All he could do in the end was sigh again and look at his watch. A minute left before departure.

"Lien for your thoughts?" Neo asked as she stood beside him.

"I think my thoughts are worth more than a single lien," he said. "But if you _must_ know, I'm starting to understand why you got this Sasuke brat to me. Not gonna lie, with how these animals are, I could use all the help I can get. But really, he actually scared me for a moment there."

She gave a quiet laugh. "Like _her_?"

Now it was his turn to let out a mirthless laugh. "Not even close, the kid's got good grasp on intimidations, but no feeling of _danger_ , but what're you gonna do? He just doesn't have it."

Shrugging, Neo added, "I don't know, you might be surprised."

He looked to his watch again. "Yeah, it won't be here since nobody's at the docks. Don't forget to feed the dogs while I'm gone." Neo waved as Roman stood up and made his way to the bullhead, perching on the cabin. "Alright you animals!" he proclaimed loudly through the aircraft door. "Load up and get ready to move out!" He ordered before walking into the compartment, more White Fang following behind him.

Torchwick spotted the Uchiha making his way to him, intent on riding the craft he was in to the docks. Roman however didn't want Sasuke in the same vehicle with him after the stunt from before.

He stepped onto the cabin door's frame. "Hold up, Sasuke," he said and succeeded in stopping Sasuke's walk to him. "This baby's full. You gotta take the next bullhead and join us later. Alright, kid?" He had to say 'kid' at least one more time to annoy the teen.

The last Uchiha responded with a frown and walked to a bullhead that was being prepped for take off. Neo wasn't going to join them this time, she said that there wasn't enough deaths to be worth the trip.

Sasuke watched Roman's craft fly into the night until it was out of sight. _'No matter, I'll get my Dust regardless,'_ he thought. He turned to an antlered White Fang member making her way to him. She stopped and stood stiffly. "Is the bullhead prepared?" he asked her. He was satisfied with the nod she gave him and made his way to the infernal machine.

Just before he entered the craft, he transformed into a teal-eyed Gaara. Wearing the same clothes the Kazekage did in the fourth war, 'Sasuke' climbed into the passenger section of the craft. Very few White Fang decided to join him, only the bold decided to board the same craft.

When the bullhead took off, thankfully with closed cabin doors, he calmed himself with reviewing the seals and the plan. _'I am one step closer to my goal,'_ he thought, content. The Dust he was to be payed with in this operation wasn't enough for the seal to return, but it was a step in the right direction; that was enough for now.

He took a deep calming breath, before he heard an explosion in the distance. He peered out through the cockpit, and noticed smoke climbing from the area they were meant to rob. The operation had been hit with a snag.

That didn't sit well with the Uchiha. A step closer to going back home, and a fool decided to get in his way. No matter what, he would make this operation a success. His return to his friends depended on it. He scowled fiercely and thought, _'If anyone tries to stand in my way, I'll make them **suffer**.'_

* * *

 **So hungry for reviews. . . or just food in general. Why did I think this was initially a funny thing to say? Whatever, let's move on.**

 **Trivia:**

 **1- My initial idea for chapter 5 was to kill off Jaune, but I was threatened by dear sibling if I wrote that in. So, I changed it to dodge having my beautiful anus drilled . . . sideways.**

 **2- I really wanted to write a moment where they would ask about Sasuke's origin in this chapter. Every time I tried, it just sounded out of place. Maybe next time, when it doesn't sound weird.**

 **3- While I had the idea of using Sasori for this fic instead of Sasuke, I had intended him to be paired with Coco.**

 **I hope to see you guys in the next chapter.**


	7. I Make Sure That Everyone Is Equal

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 **Chapter 7  
**

 **Did I ever mention that the titles of each chapter are quotes from the stories of the Grimm brothers? I do my best to find it to be related to the chapter.**

* * *

 **I'm Having Serious Fun With This Small Poetry Line; It's Still A Turd, But It's Polished Enough To Shine!**

* * *

 **Chapter Seven: I Make Sure That Everyone Is Equal**

"We called in a gun run, so your job is to make sure that the containers are lifted or hold out until the strike gets here, understand?" the pilot said to Sasuke. They were closing in on the site, having been tasked to reinforce Torchwick's group.

'Gaara' furrowed his brows. "Are you stupid?" he asked dryly in the Kazekage's voice. Did they seriously not understand that the amount of Dust at the shipyard could make an explosion large enough to light up the night sky? He didn't want to risk this, regardless if their pilots were that skilled in their aim. Sasuke shook his head and turned to the pilot. "I will handle securing the Dust, just standby to receive the containers." He left no room for discussion.

The pilot nodded before pressing a switch to open the cabin doors, and made sure to inform the other pilots to cancel their strafing run.

The Uchiha stood on the edge of the cabin frame, watching Torchwick as he was beaten back by some blonde, and another person that blended into the darkness. He frowned, he wasn't supposed to be needed, but no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.

He jumped off the craft and landed noiselessly on the ground below. The disguised Uchiha ran across the docks and knocked Torchwick away from the blonde Faunus' downward strike, which he blocked with a kunai.

Surprise was clear on the monkey's face from the sudden change of opponents, but more so when he felt a punch thrust into his chest. "Gah!" he cried out as he was sent skidding back from the redhead's strike.

A moment later 'Gaara' backstepped and dodged a horizontal slash from a familiar face. _'Blake?'_ he thought in surprise as he saw the angry ravenette attempt to slash him. Of all the people who had to put their nose in someone else's business, why did it have to be somebody he knew? Or more specifically, someone who knew his Sharingan. Now things would be even more difficult for the Uchiha. He also suspected that if there were any cameras around, they would catch the similar combat methods he had been seen using at Beacon.

He needed a way to push her way from him first to lighten up the attacks, fortunately, he knew how. While dodging more of Blake's strikes Sasuke activated his Rinnegan, the rippled eye appearing in its powerful form on 'Gaara'. Again, he saw clear in the darkness, his opponents lit up by their very own Aura.

Sasuke jumped back and turned to an enraged Blake. "Best you leave now. I would rather not kill you," Sasuke advised in Gaara's voice. If she decided to be a bigger hindrance, he would have to 'remove' her, but would rather not make this heist a bigger profile than it already was. Once someone was killed, a crime tended to get far more attention. If that were to happen, Dust would become harder to steal.

Even in her anger, the revealed Faunus was confused at the sudden change of eye color, but it wasn't enough to stop her. "You can try," Blake scoffed, she had been trained by actual Huntsman and Adam Taurus personally, criminal thugs could only be trained so much. If Sun could take care of a group of them by himself, then she could handle a single goon. To prove that, she jumped forward to press her attack, but not before shouting out, "I won't go down easily!"

Blake kept on slashing at Sasuke relentlessly, regardless of how the newcomer dodged every strike in strained motion. Even when she utilized her semblance Sasuke blocked, parried and dodged every movement. It didn't stop Blake, though, she was too angry at how far the group she was dedicated to had fallen.

She seemed to angry, furious even, that made it all the better for Sasuke when predicting her movements. Or so the he thought, before Sun showed up and backed Blake; not good for him.

"Got room for one more?" the blonde quipped. Blake was attempting to strike Sasuke's sides, while Wukong did a complete frontal fury of shotgun mayhem.

Each buckshot rattled the Uchiha's bones. 'Gaara' began taking steps backward, they were managing to push him back. _'This is unacceptable!'_ he exclaimed in his mind with a scowl. Sasuke leaped backward, away from them. The irritating smug smile on Sun's face would soon be wiped away.

"What's the matter? Too tough for ya?" the monkey Faunus mocked, even bounced a little on his feet to show how relaxed he was. The redhead raised both his arms, aiming his open palms towards them. "I don't think telling us to stop is going to work, buddy," he added smugly.

Sasuke ignored the quip. Not turning his eyes away from the duo in front of him, he ordered, "Roman! Get the containers on the bullheads. I will han-"

"Hey!" Sasuke heard another familiar voice. He knew who it was, her arrival further irritating the Uchiha. 'Gaara' looked up and saw Ruby, then looked to the side to see Roman taking aim at her with his weapon.

"Roman!" he called out again and succeeded in stopping him from pulling the trigger. "I said to take the containers. **Now!** " His killing-intent-fueled order wasn't ignored this time, but it did displease Torchwick that he was taking commands from an amateur. The Uchiha didn't care, he would get his Dust; no matter what.

Roman dropped his cane and headed to one of the White Fang squads that had arrived. " _Fine._ But you better get rid of these kids, your payment depends on it, _Gaara_ ," he growled out.

Sasuke grunted as a response and turned to the duo who were getting ready to attack. Ruby dropped down from the roof with the odd girl from the other day. . . He blinked a few times as he didn't see Aura outlining Penny's body, he only saw how a core that emitted Aura to the rest of the body by a web-like network.

He had seen similar before. _'A puppet?'_ he thought in disbelief. He had seen intricate Chakra thread network on puppets previously, but this one was beyond complex; it was as if he was looking at shattered glass. The real issue, though, was that the Sharingan didn't work on puppets, not even. . . _'That was why killing intent didn't work.'_ It made sense, and now he couldn't use Genjutsu properly. The night was getting better and better each passing moment.

Gaara's frown hardened. He needed to get rid of them, in one way or another, but without using techniques that were familiar, and now Sharingan was completely out of the question. He could use it, but there would be a witness that was possibly too important to ki- Sasuke ducked a side swipe from Sun.

"Quit eyeing the girls," Sun joked as he continued to deliver combo after combo.

Blake dashed forward to help Sun, calling out to her leader first. "Ruby, stop Torchwick! He's going to steal the Dust!" she shouted to her. Said leader gave back a small 'aye aye' and went after the thief, with Penny just behind her.

 _'Not while I'm here.'_ Sasuke thought, the Uchiha would not allow them to hinder his return home any further. He gave a leap backward, stuck his arms out again, and shouted, " **Shinra Tensei!** " The gravity force shot forward and slammed into Blake and Sun, sending them both flying back with a shout of pain.

'Gaara' quickly turned to Ruby and Penny, who had both stopped their run to Roman to see their Faunus comrades being thrown to the other side of the docks. He aimed his open palms at the two and yelled out, " **Banshō Ten'in!** " Both Penny and Ruby flew to his open palms; Ruby shouting out once she lost control of her body.

The young girl's shriek stopped when her throat slammed into Gaara's open palm. He gave a tight squeeze to choke the person who was inadvertently ruining his way home. Ruby struggled for air and even clawed at his hands, her weapon long forgotten and fallen to the floor. Sasuke glared at the goth-motif girl, but the other one wasn't making the same sound of suffocation as the young leader.

He looked to her and saw simply a frown, and several blades that started floating right behind Penny. All of them were pointed towards Sasuke, each one poised to strike; as if he'd allow her. He released her throat quickly and called out neutrally before gravity took effect, " **Shinra Tensei.** " Penny, along with her swords, flew to the other side of the shipyard, landing next to Blake and Sun.

Roman was getting containers hooked onto the bullheads while ignoring the fight that had taken place. Before when he noticed that Ruby and her friend were running at him, he was ready to fight them, but then saw he didn't need to. Seeing Gaara deal with undesirables was certainly an interesting scene. However, when he shot the orange haired girl from his open palm to the other side of the shipyard at an insane speed, that was an eye-widening moment. Maybe Neo was right, he would be surprised.

"Roman," Sasuke called neutrally. The thief looked to the single-Rinnegan eyed Gaara, and he felt the urge to hide for some reason, like when Cinder first found him. He doubted Sasuke was on their side, but if holding that kid by her throat certainly cleared it up real quick. "Get the containers quicker, we will need to leave." Sasuke was sure that the explosion from before would have attracted more than simple students. "Finish up," he ordered.

Torchwick snapped out of the morbidly mesmerizing scene with a snap. "Right, I almost forgot." _Gaara_ and Cinder might actually hold more in common than he thought, and had him hope the two never met to bring twice the horror on him. The thief turned tail and sped up the Dust loading. "Neo would have loved to see this," he muttered.

The Uchiha looked back to the girl fighting for breath in his hand. "Ruby!" he heard Blake shout. He looked to his side and saw Blake a little beat up, but fine along with Sun and Penny by her side. "Let her go!" she demanded as she, along with the other two, ran towards him.

Sasuke let Ruby drop to the floor in a heap of a coughing mess and gasping for more air, but peace wasn't to last. 'Gaara' gripped her hair and brought her head up for everyone to see, then slammed her forehead to the concrete floor, it broke through the ground and her body went limp; all while keeping eye contact on the approaching students. "You will not take another step," Sasuke ordered angrily, and they listened this time; for Ruby's own sake. "Do nothing, and you will get your friend back."

Blake's heart sank, she hadn't meant to bring Ruby into this, she only wanted to know if her former group had been behind the thefts. Now, some psychotic bastard had her leader at his mercy. "You'll pay for this, you bastard," she seethed out, her mind already working on a plan to save Ruby.

Sasuke kept an eye on them while Roman continued on with the heist, it wouldn't be long now. The Uchiha noticed how Blake was very discreetly whispering to Sun and Penny, not liking their hushed conversation at all; especially at how they nodded in unison with new-found determination. Perhaps normally he wouldn't have seen that, but with the Rinnegan active, every pore on their skin could be seen ever so clearly.

'Gaara' grabbed the team leader by her hood, and raised her upper body into the air. _'I will not risk my return home,'_ he thought with finality. "I am warning you," he started, grabbing the attention of all three of his opponents from their 'discreet' planning. He placed his free hand inches from Ruby's lower back, his open palm facing it. "To do nothing."

A black blade pierced through Ruby's abdomen and into the ground, the pain immediately shocking her back into consciousness. " **AHHH!** " her blood-curdling cry was heard by everyone nearby. Red profusely spilled out of her, either directly from her body or dripping from the blade, painting the ground beneath the girl red. Gripping the blade and pulling didn't help to stop her pain either.

"Ruby!" Blake yelled out in anguish. "Please, stop! I won't do anything!" she pleaded, even going so far as to fall onto all fours. "I swear, I won't do anything! Just stop it!" Absolute submission, just what Sasuke wanted. Sun widened his eyes at the display of cruelty, not even moving out of fear for the young girl's fate. Penny had a look of horror that her first friend was essentially dying, she was smart enough to not anger the captor any further, because if she did. . .

'Gaara' let the blade disappear from his hand and from Ruby. He released the young leader so she dropped to the floor, grasping the hole in her abdomen, trying with futility to stop the blood from spilling any further. "B-Blake, it won't stop," she whimpered through her sobs, pressing harder on the wound. "The b-b-blood won't stop coming out."

Sasuke swallowed hard, this wasn't meant to happen, but it did and now he had to stick with it. _'I need to return home,'_ he reminded himself, which steeled his resolve a bit. He looked to Roman, who looked back at 'Gaara' with a new perception. If it proved to him that Sasuke was loyal to the contract, then that's what mattered most. "Roman, are we ready to depart?" Gaara asked him, hearing sirens go off in the distance.

Torchwick turned and listened to the sirens. "I think we're good to go, just finish up and we'll leave," he said calmly, but inside he was far more rattled than he'd have liked. This kid who should've been some newbie upstart turned out to be _this_ , a real bloody mercenary. Roman didn't want to think of how not having Dust would have played out with ninja, he was just glad he had gotten it done. He felt safer when he saw a nod of approval and turned to address the White Fang group who had been watching their redheaded ally handle the situation. "Everyone pack up, we're leaving!" The sooner, the better.

Blake wanted to hear an answer. "Gaara!" she called out in resurfacing anger. She wanted to know who was responsible for this, to tell Yang who was the cause for what happened to her sister. "I'll find you, I swear it!" She would remember the name forever, but she wanted to know why such a person was working with her former group. Anything to help Ozpin or whoever to find the bastard.

He ignored the Faunus in favor for the sounds of White Fang bullhead engines filling the air, Sasuke was content with that. But he wasn't content with Ruby bleeding to near death on his feet, and the rage striking Blake's face. He raised an open palm towards them and gave an answer to take home before blasting them away, "then it would be the last thing you ever do. **Shinra Tensei**. " The three widened their eyes before being launched back, much further than previously until they were too far away to bother his departure.

'Gaara' looked down to Ruby, who was still bleeding at his feet. She kept holding her stab wound, ignoring that she was also bleeding from the hole on her back. It wouldn't kill her, he avoided every vital organ and bone, but that didn't stop the pain or the bleeding. With her Aura, the bleeding would soon cease, and there was a way to stop the pain he can do. Sasuke leaned downwards to help with the suffering.

She widened her eyes in fear as she saw Gaara's face come closer to her. "Wait, stop!" Ruby pleaded through her pain and tears; trying to crawl away. "Please, don-!" That was all she said when a fast Chakra-augmented strike connected to her head, knocking her out. Her Aura had already slowed the bleeding since he had first stabbed her, and now she wouldn't feel the pain. It was the only mercy he could grant at that point.

'Gaara' made a name for himself that day, forever to be known to the White Fang and all those who heard the story of that night. A merciless and violent demon, someone to be avoided at all cost and someone to be feared. It was ironic how Gaara now had that reputation in Remnant just as he had once held in Suna, all because Sasuke merely wanted someone dull-looking as cover while on jobs in this world.

Gaara leaped onto an empty aircraft that carried a single freight container on its belly and sat alone. All the bullheads were now carrying Dust in the largest quantity possible for them. The mission was a complete success, even with the snag that Sasuke had taken care of. He sighed regardless, he didn't want to stab Ruby, but he couldn't allow Blake to hamper the progress he had made. He wouldn't risk the heist with whatever she had planned. "A shinobi does what is needed," he whispered out loud to himself.

The craft pulled up and headed back towards the warehouse, with several other crafts in tow. He would make sure to add his handling of the problem into his paycheck, he damn well deserved it. He walked towards the cockpit and tapped the pilot's shoulder, who jumped in his seat. "S-Sir! What do you need?" he asked nervously. The pilot had also seen what occurred at the docks and felt extremely unlucky that he had such a person a few feet away from him.

"Land near the shore of the warehouse, I will take the Dust I am to be paid with, _now_ ," he ordered the White Fang member. "Make sure to tell Roman this: I will not be following you back to the safe house and will await him for another job." The pilot's nod was quick, just as quick as he obeyed the command.

After landing, 'Gaara' dropped to the soft sand, and opened the dropped freight container to see crates and cases with the Schnee logo printed on them; filled to the brim with Dust in its rawest form. He looked to the pilot and glared until he left with the bullhead, heading back to where it was meant to go. A freight container was his payment now, if Roman had a problem with it, he would just have to deal with Sasuke _personally_. The Uchiha doubted Roman would, not if his performance and the thief's reaction were anything to go by.

He closed the large metal box and brought out a paper scroll with a written inscription inside it. Sasuke opened it and rolled the scroll out until the entire seal was shown, then placed the inked scribe on the massive freight container. "Seal!" he said, just before the massive metal box vanished in white smoke.

The Uchiha looked to the rolled up scroll in his hand, the one that contained a decent chunk of what was needed to get back home. _'I stabbed Ruby for this,'_ he thought, it even occurred to him that he stabbed her in the back. _'It doesn't matter. At some point, I will be gone and never seen again in this world.'_ He would do anything to return, even do what was done minutes ago again and again. He was a ninja, torture and murder were in his job description. The simple fact that he had left them alive was a mercy that he didn't have to grant, that was enough. He walked with it, worked with it, met with it, and was even committed to it, but not here, and that made them fortunate.

After a shake of the head, he realized that 'Gaara' had been out in the open long enough, so he needed to get back to Beacon. A poof of smoke later, he was Sasuke once more. The Uchiha headed to one of the main roads that would lead to Beacon, but decided not to get on a bullhead. He would walk the entire way back to his room at the Academy.

The walk back wasn't anything special, it was just more time to think about what he had done. Sasuke came to terms with it very quickly, he had a purpose for it and would not stop just because of a little girl that decided to play detective. That was what he told himself, which was more than enough for him. Perhaps Ruby would even take it as a lesson for the future, not to get in over her head.

The Uchiha leaped from rooftop to rooftop and avoided any camera he caught with his Sharingan. Even when he reached Beacon he stuck to the ceiling while keeping an eye on any surveillance devices that may have been added since Pyrrha's arm recovery; which there were. Seems like Ozpin was more paranoid than the Uchiha thought.

Reaching his room was easy once he had figured where the viewpoints were for the cameras: nearly everywhere. The headmaster was _much_ more paranoid.

He dismissed his clone as soon as he opened the door and received the memories of the day, which were nothing out of the ordinary. Except for how Blake ran away from her team and how they went to find her; that explained a few things. It didn't matter anymore, however.

Sasuke would not postpone this any longer, once he reached his room, he immediately summoned Tatsuya. " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu,** " he said when he slammed his palm on the room floor.

"Hmm?" the familiar snake hissed. "I assume your procurement of Dust has been a success, summoner." Sasuke nodded, but with a frown. He brought out the scroll where the massive container was sealed in and placed it into the snake's mouth, who swallowed it. "I will take it back to the Wise Elder. Is there anything you wish for me to relay?"

 _'Could I tell Naruto what I did tonight?'_ the shinobi pondered, could he honestly tell someone, who was practically his brother, the things he had to do? No, Naruto would be upset about the Uchiha's decision. The Uzumaki was his overly-joyful best friend, he couldn't tell him this, not yet at least. "Nothing. Only tell the White Snake Sage that there's more Dust than planned; far more," he ordered the large garter snake, to which Tatsuya nodded and vanished.

Sasuke laid in his bed after his summon left. He thought about the events of the night and how it led up to it, how he had to pierce through someone he thought of as an acquaintance to get what he needed.

The shinobi scowled and thought, _'I will do anything to get back home.'_ He went to sleep after that.

* * *

"Did you hear what happened last night?", "How could such a monster exist!?", "To a girl not even sixteen, no less." These were the more docile of conversations he had heard while in the cafeteria eating breakfast. Sasuke was somewhat proud that he avoided any techniques that narrowed it down to him, because there were more than enough cameras at multiple view angles. Honestly, he didn't kill the unnamed 15-year-old girl of the news. . . he only impaled her to the ground. She was alive, and that's what mattered.

Only videos with him in it were released, and an animation of how it went down with Ruby and the others. Of course, they were made to look nothing like them, only 'Gaara' was made infamous in all his glory. How a man capable of gravity manipulation, who could also emit swords from his body was a wonder to all.

Breakfast was a normal affair, except only team JNPR were present with the Uchiha. Seemed team RWBY had somewhere else to be, and only them. "You saw what was on the news, right?" Ren asked the shinobi, who nodded. Seeing Gaara impale a student-like cartoon figure was quite dramatic to many who had seen. Needless to say, the heist had received a lot of attention, almost as much if he had actually killed his victim.

Jaune looked to his side and noticed his redheaded companion furrow her brows as she was looking at her Scroll. "Pyrrha, are you okay?" he asked her.

"I'm fine," the champion replied, placing her Scroll away. "It's just that. . . nevermind." She had been looking at a close up picture of Gaara with his Rinnegan activated, something just seemed so familiar about it, but she couldn't place it.

"We tried visiting her at the hospital, but they said we weren't allowed in," Ren added. No one was allowed, not her friends, family and certainly not the press that hounded on the hospital gates. It was a miracle her name was never leaked to the media. Ozpin and a few others had made sure that only people close to Ruby were told.

Remnant's medical technology was top-notch compared to hospitals of his world, the ninja had no need to use the King of Hell on a flesh wound that looked worse than it actually was. The worse he did to her was a severed intestine, and that was easy to heal with a simple combination of a single surgery and Aura.

The doors opened to reveal the members of team RWBY, but without their leader who was no doubt busy recovering in a hospital within the capital. Their faces had a range of emotions, but none more prevalent than the ones shown by Blake and Yang.

While Weiss was indeed concerned about the wellbeing of her leader, she already knew that Ruby was going to be back to normal in mere days. Yang and Blake, however, were another story.

If it were summarized in one word, 'Guilt' was what the Faunus was feeling. It wasn't the only feeling, there was shame and righteous anger, her foolish actions caused the monster called 'Gaara' to nearly kill the young leader. In her eyes, everything was her fault. The dark bags under her eyes showed that she hadn't gotten that much sleep, if any at all.

The sister of the victim, however, wasn't so docile or controlled. Rage. Simple, pure, and unadulterated rage. To the hospital that refused her visit, to the son of a bitch who stabbed her sister, and to a lesser degree, her teammate Blake. If she wasn't reminding herself that the Faunus member of team RWBY submitted to the monster for Ruby's sake, she would have done so much worse than a casual glare from time to time. The blonde knew she felt guilt like no other, but that didn't do much for her own fury.

Team JNPR gulped at the dark aura radiating off of the two, even Weiss scooted away from them, while Sasuke stayed in his seat casually. To him, they were being melodramatic since their teammate was fine and well. Although, even he could understand what it was like to have someone you love to be in a life-threatening situation, even if it was momentary and not as lethal as they thought.

He supposed it was because of their different worlds. In the Elemental Nations, a ninja would be glad to leave a battle with only an injury such as Ruby's. Perhaps here in the world of Hunters and Huntresses, it was seen as a much worse outcome.

"S-So," Jaune began, then gulped when the two glared at him. Not intentionally, but they weren't having a good day, so their faces became very irate whenever something happened other than silence. "How is she?" he asked meekly, their glares hardened in remembering that they weren't allowed to know about their team leader other than that she was fine.

Weiss answered, "we don't know." She frowned after remembering how both officer Burns and Heyman tried to interrogate them at the docks for information. Information that the girls didn't have. They only saw how their leader was pulled into an ambulance, and then the hospital that admitted her disallowed them to stay or even visit. "We weren't allowed to check on Ruby, either."

"Bastards, the lot of 'em," Yang mumbled. Her own sister wasn't allowed to visit. She would talk to her uncle Qrow about this, find out every single damn thing about Gaara. A revelation hit her just then, she had an idea on where to get information, but the blonde hoped that Junior wasn't too angry at her. For now, though, she just wanted to see her sister.

Sasuke sighed and shook his head at them. If these people couldn't handle what they thought was near-loss, then life as Huntsmen was going to be _very_ difficult for them. Not that he was any better, but he actually lost his whole family to his own brother at half the age of Ruby. Even though he chased after Itachi for years then killed him, which had set a whole new story in place. Life as a ninja was complicated, full of hatred and revenge; much less so recently.

The attention of the cafeteria became aimed to the doors, because Ozpin and Goodwitch had just entered. Their heading? The Uchiha and Co.

Blake avoided eye contact with Ozpin, their talk after what happened at the shipyard didn't go as swimmingly as expected. Mostly because the image of Ruby with blade in her gut wouldn't leave Blake's mind. Trying to forget how impassive Gaara's face was during the entire situation was on top of her list, not listening to a simple headmaster. They spoke again when she calmed down mentally, he received some information after that; but mostly her fear.

This newcomer at the docks was anything but normal. He had a blade that emitted from his own body, anyone could be pulled or pushed away as he pleased, his senses surpassed that of a Faunus, reflexes of a seasoned warrior, and the viciousness of the most dangerous of Grimm. Blake would never forget that single rippled eye, it was dangerous, that much she could tell. What's scarier was that he was working with the White Fang and Torchwick, the situation was beyond bad.

"Miss Xiao Long, please follow us," Glynda started, then turned to the rest of the group. "The rest of you as well. We have something important to show you." It took the group a few blinks to comprehend that they were personally ordered by the two seasoned Huntsmen, before they started getting up from their seats.

Following them down a familiar route to the infirmary, the Uchiha figured out what was going on. It wasn't like it was difficult, they were going to see Ruby. He was curious how her condition was after her impalement, could he have missed something? Impossible, his aim was impeccable. Perhaps he was mistaken? Never, he had read to many books of Remnant to know their anatomy was indeed similar, if not identical outside of Chakra and Aura. Perhaps the condensed blades made of Chakra were toxic to Aura? Unlikely, the blades didn't give out any residue, even when dispersing.

Going through the empty infirmary, it seemed Yang finally figured out that something important was happening for such a high ranking official to call her out personally. How did she figure it out? Because her uncle Qrow and father were in front of a hospital room. The three people who were meant to see her the most, now could. "Dad! Uncle Qrow!" she yelled as she ran to them and gave them both a hug and began crying. "Ruby. . .Ruby was-"

The older blonde man placed a hand on her head. "We know, Yang. That's why we're here," Taiyang said, which confused his daughter. "We're here to see Ruby. Right, Qrow?" He elbowed his brother-in-law.

He rubbed his side from the cheap elbow strike from his brother-in-law. "Yeah, that's right," the scythe master said as he awkwardly patted his niece's back.

It took two seconds to know that Qrow was like his Hokage: The man reeked of alcohol like Lady Tsunade. For the first time in his life, the Uchiha was glad he wasn't an Inuzuka. The smell Qrow was radiating would have the whole clan leaving Beacon, if not Vale.

"A touching reunion," Ozpin interrupted. "But we have someone to see, don't we?" That got the attention of the family trio and the group that followed. The headmaster gestured towards the door right in front of them. "You didn't expect me to keep her at such a place to be hounded by reporters, did you?" Indeed, Rose was at the hospital, but only until her treatment was done. Now, the reporters were fighting for an empty hospital bed.

The elder sister gulped before she turned and knocked on the door, hearing a muffled 'come in' as a response. Opening the door for all to see, showing Ruby Rose sitting in her hospital bed, in perfect health. Just bedridden to recover from her surgery. Her eyes widened when her older sister came to tackle her with a hug. Almost.

Goodwitch grabbed onto Yang's shoulder, which got the older sister to start glaring. "You can hug your sister at a later time, but right now, she has to recover from her operation," the professor scolded lightly. Which got the younger blonde to actually take a step back.

Sasuke took a long look at the bedridden girl, she seemed healthy and recovering well. It was odd to see her in a pure white hospital gown, not a single red or black color was present. Most importantly, she didn't seem like her happy usual self. He assumed it was because of her impalement, not many tended to be happy after sharp objects entered their body.

"This is moving and all," Ozpin sounded eager to hear from the leader when she recovered. He only brought them here to let them know that she was indeed alive and well. "But I think it's time we leave her to heal." He looked to the now-angry Branwen and Xiao Longs, then back to the group of students. "Unless you are related, of course." He felt safer now that the glares were no longer on him.

Team JNPR and Weiss decided to leave, they weren't that perplexed of Blake deciding to stay with Ruby, it was Sasuke, however, whose decision to stay that confused them. He knew that Ozpin or whoever would eventually ask a question or two, but he wanted to see what he asked, and what the answers were.

"Hey, kid. Didn't ya hear? Family members only," Qrow pointed out as he walked to the Uchiha, even placing a hand on the teen's shoulder.

"I'm not leaving," Qrow heard the Uchiha say, from behind him. He looked back to see the teen then back forward, while squinting. His hand was now on a confused Ozpin's shoulder.

The uncle laughed. "That's one interesting boy you get here Ozzy," he said. "Seems just as skilled as you said he was. A shame he ain't a 'maiden'. Would have been nice," he added. Which got him a disapproving frown for the 'maiden' bit from both the headmaster and Goodwitch. He was better at keeping secrets slightly-sober than drunk.

Sasuke shivered, he didn't want to be hit on by those damn SUCC girls, and he certainly didn't want to be hit on by drunk middle-aged men. He couldn't believe that this old man actually wanted him to be a woman!

"That's gross uncle Qrow," Ruby said, slightly green in the face. Which was imitated by her sister.

"Back to the matter at hand," Ozpin added quickly, then turned to the Uchiha. He was surprised how this prodigy had done the replacement technique on him, which only detailed his skill even further. Qrow was right, though, if Sasuke was female, he would have been a great boon to Man. "Mr. Uchiha, this is a matter of family." The boy didn't even make a move to leave, he only leaned on the wall and dryly stared back at the headmaster.

"It's okay, professor. Sasuke can stay, Blake too," Ruby said with a small smile, getting a respectful nod from her teammate and the Uchiha. Her statement got the green man to relent, it was her room and health, after all. "I'm guessing you want to know what happened?" That got everybody in the room to lean in to hear her.

Taiyang spoke up, "It's best you heal first, Ruby. You can tell us everything later." His daughter nodded in response. She was still tired, and would appreciate the rest.

"Can I ask something, first?" Ruby asked. Receiving the affirmative, she looked to her sister. "Why are your eyes grey?"

The younger Xiao Long blinked in confusion. Her eyes weren't grey, they were lilac, she couldn't have forgotten. Even though Yang's could turn red, that didn't mean they could turn silver.

"Ruby, what do you mean?" Blake asked in worry. This sounded familiar to her while she was working with her former group, she just hoped it wasn't so.

"Hmm?" The young leader then turned to her teammate. "Well, their eyes are grey, right?"

The Faunus swallowed hard, as she brought out her Scroll and made the screen into a purple color, then showed it to her leader. "What color do you see?" Blake asked.

The Gothic girl furrowed her brows and answered, "dark-grey. Why are you asking me this?" Rose became worried, these questions were really weird.

Belladonna turned to her company in the hospital room, she noticed the wide-eyes of the adult Huntsmen. They knew exactly what this meant, their field experience told them what it was.

Yang, however, didn't. "What? What is it?" she asked worriedly as she swiveled around for an answer, which came from Sasuke.

The Uchiha frowned and replied, "Ruby is incapable of seeing the color purple, because she has PTSD."

* * *

 **I loved this chapter, but I also hated myself because I felt like I kicked a puppy. Still, stories about heroes saving the day only to be praised and revered in the end have nothing interesting. Anti-heroes, though, far more fascinating to read about because they break the mold.**

 **Trivia:**

 **1- Sun was meant to be stabbed this chapter instead of Ruby, but it kept playing in my head that Ruby would the one from how the events went, so I said to myself 'fuck it' and wrote it in. Love me or hate me, I don't care, this is what I believe Sasuke would have done.**

 **2- I wrote the entire docks scene while listening to Beethoven's fifth symphony for inspiration on how to move on. It worked like a charm, in a. Single. Fucking. Night.**

 **3- Ever since I trimmed my beard, the voices in my head stopped. . . now I'm lonely.**


	8. For Here Do Evil Things Betide

**.**

 **Chapter 8, now with less AN!**

 **This chapter also had an essay of a response to a reviewer. Jeez, I suck. I do need to say that in some cases of PTSD, a person could stop seeing certain colors as the brain protects itself because it associates that color with the trauma itself, hence why Ruby could no longer see purple since a certain eye stands out.**

* * *

 **I Had Ruby Stabbed, And I Feel Bad; But A Good Story Needed To Be Had!**

* * *

 **Chapter Eight:** **For** **H** **ere** **D** **o** **E** **vil** **T** **hings** **B** **etide**

Sasuke could be found standing outside Ruby's infirmary room, after some discussion, it was figured that only family were to be inside to comfort the young leader, especially after that revelation. Outside, were the two faculty members of Beacon, a revealed Faunus, and the one who stabbed the red girl.

"What now?" the ninja asked the two seasoned Huntsmen. PTSD was no joke, if she had an episode while on the field during her job as the student leader, it would be more than simply Ruby who would be at risk.

Glynda shook her head. "We don't know," she stated sadly with a sigh. "She might have to leave Beacon and find a professional therapist to help her recover." The school for Hunters had guidance councilors, but they were for common teenage problems as they assimilated to the new life at the Academy, stress disorders after traumatic events weren't exactly in their experience.

"My fault." The three experienced fighters looked to the source of that statement: the Faunus among their group. "If I just minded my own business, then none of this would have happened," she angrily growled out to herself. She _hated_ Gaara for what he had done, but he wasn't here, so the cat Faunus could only be angry herself for what happened to her young leader. "If I just. . . didn't run away," she seethed out through clenched teeth.

Glynda and Ozpin looked to each other and were about to say something, but the door to Ruby's room opened and revealed a Qrow Branwen, who took a swig from his flask before tucking it away. He closed the door behind him and joined the two faculty members of Beacon, but not before he looked to Blake, who was in her own world of self-deprecation; which he noticed.

"Ruby told me to tell you not to beat yourself up too much," Branwen relayed to his niece's teammate. "Ain't no one blaming you, not even Ruby." He was just as angry as Yang, but he was more in control over his emotions; when slightly drunk at least. Qrow then looked to his colleagues. "Mind if we have a chat before I go back out?" They nodded and he joined them as they walked away, leaving the two teens alone.

The Uchiha gave a small sigh and made to leave the infirmary. They weren't going to ask Ruby anything right now, so there was no point to stick around. He turned his head and saw that Belladonna was still standing in her place, looking to the floor while angrily biting her lower lip to the point she drew blood. Sasuke really didn't want these amateurs to play hero again.

What he had done at the docks was considered mercy in his world, and if they tested his patience anymore, then they were simply begging to lose their lives to the shinobi. If there was a next time, they may not be so lucky.

"Blake, the others are waiting for us," the ninja told her, which got the Faunus' attention. She would probably tell them of the young leader's condition, and hopefully, they would decide to help her more than want to take down an insurgent group of Faunus freedom fighters or terrorists. It didn't matter to the Uchiha what the White Fang were considered, the entire conflict was foolish, just like how it was back home.

The ravenette girl nodded and followed the offender of Ruby's condition. By the time they would have figured out who Gaara really was, the Uchiha would probably have been back home with his true friends.

"Sasuke," Blake called as she walked by his side as they walked to the exit. "What should I do?" She needed guidance for what to do. To help Ruby and to stop whatever her former group was planning, but could she do even one of them? So she asked the only one who was available at that time: the anti-social walking weapon of mass destruction.

The former avenger didn't turn his head to see the tired eyes of his company, he merely continued to look ahead of him, but he gave her a simple answer, "rest."

The Faunus turned to face him and glared. "Rest?" she growled out incredulously. "Ruby had a hole in her gut, the White Fang have a monster working for them to steal Dust left and right, but you want me to rest!? I need to stop them!" Her anger was not sated. She had to do something, Blake couldn't imagine going day by day calmly after what had happened the other night. The extremely skilled trainee beside her could not have been serious about his single-word advice.

"Then die," he replied back evenly.

She hardened her glare and attempted to grab his collar for his response, but even on a good day that wasn't possible for her. He grabbed her wrist before it reached him and twisted until he was behind her, he then had her arm locked and her body leaning forward. "What could you possibly do when you are so weak?" the Uchiha asked the revealed Faunus rhetorically. She didn't answer back, she merely teared up in frustration and continued to struggle in his grasp, but was incapable of freeing herself from his hold. She might have been able to if her head was clear enough to use her semblance, but not when her mind was in a whirlwind of shame, guilt, anger, and sleep deprivation.

After a few seconds of silent contemplation and wrestling on the Faunus' part, he swiped her foot and tripped her to the floor face-down and held her there. "You will simply die, and whoever you bring with you would be killed because of your actions," Sasuke added seriously, he then let Blake go. "Forget about your pointless need to stop the White Fang, Belladonna, and be with your bed-ridden leader. She needs you more than you need your petty vendetta." The talk hopefully showed her that she would be foolish to chase after Gaara and the insurgent group. It also had him feel a tad hypocritical, but he was right regardless.

Blake didn't get off of the pristine white floor, she merely kept her face down with clenched fists a few more seconds before getting on her knees. Wiping away a few tears of frustration, she got back up and walked the rest of the way to the exit alone, all while she avoided eye-contact with the shinobi, leaving him behind.

' _Stubborn girl,'_ Sasuke thought with annoyance. He had no idea what the girl's issue with the White Fang was, but he didn't care. All he wanted was for future operations to go without surprise opposition, especially from persistent brats.

He was about to follow Blake to the exit, but he heard someone speak out to him from behind, "interesting little speech you got there." The Rinnegan master turned and saw it was from Qrow, who took another swig from his flask as he stood with the professors by his side. The three of them weren't far away from his handling of Blake, so it was expected that the trio saw and heard what was said and done. "I doubt she would listen to you, though."

"Then she will die," the Uchiha responded plainly to the drunkard. If Blake was so sure she could handle 'Gaara', then it seemed like he would have to stomp on her ego much more than last time. "She must simply let these things go."

"Mr. Uchiha," Glynda nearly yelled if it wasn't that she was in an infirmary. "The situation with Miss Belladonna is much more complex than you understand. Especially when it comes to the White Fang."

Sasuke looked Goodwitch in the eye and said truthfully, "whether she lives or she dies in the end, that is the simplest to _understand_. If Blake were to fight as she is now, she will be killed by the ones she is hunting." His voice was neutral, but his statement was true. The Faunus' performance at the docks said as much.

Qrow gave a small chuckle. "I would listen to him if I were you, Glynda, he sounds like he has experience with this," he said to his blonde colleague, who glared at him. "Question is, why do you sound experienced with all this revenge crap?" His question wasn't accusatory, merely curious how a teen from outside the kingdom had so much profound knowledge. Even before his speech to the cat Faunus girl, there was his speech when that Arc kid was having problems early in the semester.

"Experience," he gave Qrow his own word back, and that was all he was getting out of the Uchiha, he even ignored Qrow's mumbling that sounded close to 'cheeky brat'.

The ninja gave the three a curt nod and turned to leave. "Sasuke," Ozpin called out, and got the attention of his trial student, along with the slight surprise for using his first name from his colleagues. "Please, look after the teams. Unlike us, they don't really know what it's like out there." His request was fueled by the fact that one of his students almost died the other day because she wasn't ready, and another who had a personal quarrel with a large group of Faunus freedom fighters. Considering the Uchiha's skill and position, he could be the only one who could watch over them closely.

"I already am," the shinobi responded to the headmaster, without even turning his head back and continued on his way. He was watching for them, to make certain that they haven't decided to do anything foolish to his plans once more. While walking away, Sasuke had given Ozpin an added mental note, _'it's not only what's out there that's dangerous to your students, headmaster.'_

* * *

"Maybe we should throw her a 'get well' party?", "I think just getting her a weapon magazine would help, don't you agree?", "Pancakes always helped me out of a tough time." These were a few of the ideas that were tossed around by team JNPR and the three of RWBY to help Rose feel better. Some ideas, such as the third one mentioned, were immediately shot down from consideration, to the ire of a hammer-wielding teen.

The young team leader had been bed-ridden in the infirmary for a few days now, and would soon be released. It would be a shame to start the new semester, that would begin in a few days, on a bloody note. So her group had decided to uplift her spirits, perhaps through an event of some kind. Even with their casual visits, the teams wanted to do more to help their young friend. Their visits actually helped Yang out of her sour mood, and lessened Blake's.

The Uchiha didn't want anything to do with their plans, he wasn't the kind to be a part of celebratory events. The ninja looked to Blake and saw her staring at her food with contemplation, clearly not about the tuna she was having, but also ignoring the black-haired ninja's existence.

Since their 'talk' at the infirmary, Blake had been avoiding Sasuke at every chance possible. In fact, the only time they could be seen at the same time was at the canteen, class or when she was with her two other comrades. Even then, she hadn't uttered a word or even acknowledged his presence. However, she was seen in better shape than previously, the bags under her eyes were much less pronounced.

' _At least she listened to some degree,'_ the Uchiha thought with mild relief. Now that the foolish cat Faunus' ideas seemed like they weren't focused on chasing Gaara and her former group, he could feel some comfort that he wouldn't see them for a while during a mission. He was so into his solace, he almost missed a question that was directed at him.

"What do you think we should do, Sasuke?" Pyrrha asked as she placed a device back in her pocket. She had been keeping a picture of Gaara while his Rinnegan was activated on her Scroll, she gave it a peer from time to time, having the feeling of recognition strike the redheaded champion every time she looked. For the love of her, she couldn't place how she found it familiar.

The shinobi turned and gave an answer to Nikos, "just show Ruby that you are there for her, that is all." After the fourth war ended, there were many surviving ninja's who were struck with so much fear, that it changed their entire mental state to the worse, some killing themselves after the never-ending paranoia and the endless amount of nightmares that struck them.

Sakura, while she worked at the hospital, told him of her experiences with patients who suffered from the mental disorder, and how numerous they were. Sasuke wasn't allowed in to help, he looked far too similar to Madara, which brought flashbacks of the battle. If what he remembered from her was correct, which he was, they needed to show their inner psyche how they were no longer in a war, how they weren't alone, and how no one was after them. Being a shinobi for an occupation had made that very difficult to persuade. Ruby, however, was neither a shinobi nor a veteran of war, she would be perfectly fine soon enough.

A buzz in the ninja's pocket signified a new message. It's been a while since he received one, other than the respectful angry message from Roman on how he took more Dust than he should have. Regardless, Torchwick didn't bring it up again, either out of fear, or that he knew he wasn't getting it back, the Uchiha didn't care.

"I will be leaving to procure some books from the capital," Sasuke informed his group as he stood from his seat. It had been a while, but Tucson had procured a few more books that the ninja was interested in buying, but Tucson added another message to the usual, 'the last one, thanks for your patronage'. It was so bizarre that he didn't even hear Yang's 'nerd' remark as he was leaving.

The way to Vale was just as unpleasant with that damn bullhead. The only ones the shinobi entered with a closed cabin door when they flew into the air were those when he raided the docks with the White Fang. The only time he marginally enjoyed flying into the air, was when he was working with a group of Faunus insurgents who hope to bring equality in Remnant through armed resistance, but never with the Academy that taught students to be strong heroes to help the weak.

' _Perhaps I should speak to Ozpin about this,'_ Sasuke pondered about addressing the issue with the headmaster as he walked through the streets of Vale, nearing Tucson's store. The ninja sighed. _'I would rather not gi-Blood.'_ He suddenly became alert as he smelled blood after he passed a young duo. When he looked back a mere two seconds later to find the origin of the smell, they must have turned a corner, because whoever it was, the person was no longer in sight.

The Rinnegan master narrowed his eyes, someone has killed very recently. He shook his head and continued on his way forward, it wasn't any of his business who killed who. Back home, it was an everyday occurrence to pass someone who had a mild smell of blood, even more so after a mission that had gone messy. However, this was Remnant, killing was based against Grimm the majority of the time, wasn't it?

Sasuke looked at the general atmosphere of the city as he continued his walk, and it was clear what the topic of discussion had been: him. More specifically, Gaara working with Torchwick and the White Fang. The fear was palpable in the air, which wasn't only because he was working with criminals and insurgents, but because his performance and the capabilities that were shown. A person who had two completely different Semblance-like capabilities was something only seen in bad works of fiction. Even more so when that same person was working with outlaws, and not being the hero.

The Uchiha shook his head from his musings when he neared Tucson's store, he noticed that the lights were off and that the glass was polarized to a dark color as if indicating it was closed. When the ninja was about to knock, the smell of blood hit him like a wave. At that point, he didn't know how anyone couldn't have noticed the coppery smell.

He cautiously opened the door and entered. Sasuke closed the door behind him, walked forward whilst looking around and noticed that the area was generally tidy, but behind the counter was not; the wall behind it was shattered. "Tucson," he called out carefully, Sharingan activated for any surprise attack. There was no ans- A sound was heard from the back.

The ninja leaped over the desk and went into the back room past the broken door frame that was missing its prime component. Once inside, he saw Tucson, or at least, what was left of him.

"Tucson?" the former avenger asked with a frown. If this was Tucson the store clerk, his face was far from recognizable as it was reminiscent to pulp, laying in a pool of his own red life-liquid, the man had bones clearly visible from nearly every angle.

The broken man's response was a gurgle, he was indeed Tucson, and he was hanging to life by a thread that was slipping away quick. Sasuke pondered if he should help him, even if the clerk had found books for him. More than a few of his books had given the otherworldly warrior some valuable knowledge, but the ninja could have gotten it from anywhere, not just exclusively from the man dying before him. . . but it was from him.

Looking to his side, Sasuke noticed packed bags and a single ticket for a heading to Vacuo on a table close by. _'Tucson was going to leave, but someone found him before he could. That's what he meant by it was the last one,'_ the ninja concluded with a sigh and activated his Rinnegan. Once he healed the clerk, he would make certain that his patient wouldn't remember him. He would simply find himself waking up fully healed. "I will help you, Tucson, consider this my final payment for your help," he told the broken man laying on the ground. If it weren't for his books, the ninja wouldn't have known about Dust so soon to help his return home.

Tucson was currently lacking proper eyes, so he wouldn't see the demonic head arise from the ground, but he could hear something, and feel the vibration. He had also felt a hand grab his body before it tossed him somewhere that just felt odd. The next thing he knew, his body was being tossed around as though in a washing machine, but most of all, the mind-numbing pain.

Sasuke watched as the large head, that was just small enough to fit inside the backroom, 'chew' what's left of the clerk's nearly-dead body. Along with hearing distressed wet gurgle sounds that were becoming more and more into normal screams of pain. The Uchiha wondered if Tucson noticed this; probably not since he continued screaming.

The yells died down, and the chewing stopped. Sasuke had let the large white demonic head disappear from existence. Now, Tucson was on the ground, he simply hugged himself and panted, with confusion clear on his face. The clerk looked up and saw the purple-eyed Sasuke, he became even more confused at the transition from a purple rippled-eye to the red Sharingan; which wasn't for long.

"W-What jus-" the wide-eyed Faunus clerk sounded before he slumped forward to the floor, passed out and memories erased. He would find himself remembering the attack, the pain of it, and then waking up healthy. Everything beyond this point was up to Tucson now.

The Uchiha sighed again. He used the King of Hell more times than he expected since he arrived on Remnant, the world was certainly becoming high-maintenance. Sasuke went into the store area, looked around and found a stack of books placed aside in a bag labeled 'Sasuke Uchiha'. The ninja sighed as he took his patronage from Tucson, though not in circumstances the clerk wished.

Outside the store, he looked around and saw that everyone was doing their usual day-to-day routine, completely oblivious to the murder that would have occurred minutes prior. _'How easy the ignorant civilian life must be for these people,'_ the shinobi thought with a small amount of displeasure.

Sasuke shook his head and walked back to the academy, as if he hadn't just saved a life using an eye that doubled as a weapon of unparalleled destruction.

After gladly getting off the bullhead on Beacon grounds, the ninja walked past the countless students walking away from the canteen, many whispers of a kind of fight that broke out in there. He hadn't been away from the teams for an hour, would they have seriously started some form argument that developed into a fight so soon!?

On his way there, the Uchiha found Ruby making her way to the same destination; alone. _'Have they released her early?'_ Sasuke wondered. Perhaps her PTSD wasn't as bad as it had seemed if the doctors were confident in her mental state already. "Ruby," he called out to her.

As she walked , the hooded girl jumped in response, turned to her caller, and gave a relieved sigh. Which caused the ninja to raise an eyebrow at her over-the-top reaction. "It's you Sasuke, you scared me," Ruby said as she calmed herself. "So, heading to where the guys are?"

"Correct, I heard they started a fight whilst eating," the Gaara impersonator replied unamusedly.

The young leader groaned. "It's Yang, I'm sure she had something to do with it," she said with disappointment. Honestly, there were times when Ruby felt like she was the older sister. She then walked by the ninja, both headed to where the greatest day ever was taking place earlier than expected.

They walked together in comfortable silence, but ran into two others once in front of the cafeteria gate. The blonde monkey Faunus from the docks, and a weird teen with blue hair. Sasuke's attention was focused on the smiling blonde monkey, he also reached the conclusion that he didn't like him. Too many eerily familiar blondes were in Remnant; the Uchiha hated it.

A look of recognition struck Sun's face. "Ah, it's you!" he proclaimed a little too loudly as he pointed towards Ruby, even the blue-haired guy beside him had to cup his ears. The girl in question leapt backward from the loud attention the blonde was giving her.

She blinked a few times and gave a good long look at the new guy. "You're. . . Sun, right?" Rose had just recognized the blonde fool's name from Blake's talks when she visited her leader in the infirmary. "What're you doing here?" she asked him with a slight tilt of her head.

The Faunus patted his friend's back. "Oh, just visiting and showing Neptune around," he said happily, before he asked in an awkward voice, "how are you doing, though? Everything alright with the. . ." He merely pointed to his gut, indicating where she was stabbed.

The young leader gave a lopsided smile, clearly indicating that she appreciated his concern of her well-being, but didn't like the little flashback. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said then proceeded to grab the area where the blade impaled her. "I was just released a few minutes ago, actually."

"That's great to hear," Sun said with a toothy smile, he even snapped his fingers and gave her a double thumbs up. He turned to see the Uchiha standing beside the young leader. "Sup', I'm Sun."

"Sasuke Uchiha," the ninja replied and introduced dryly. The more he saw the Faunus' personality, the more he felt like he wanted to run him through with a **Chidori**. Sasuke really didn't know why he had such malicious feelings for someone who was familiar to his best friend. Perhaps some of the pent up aggression he had on Naruto resurfaced, regardless, he kept his emotions in control; as tempting as it was to follow it.

A crash was heard from behind the doors, which got the attention of the four outside it's gate. "What's going on in there?" the blue haired teen asked no one specific.

Sun gave a fox-like smile, the urge to **Chidori** him doubled, and began to open the gate, which showed the once pristine area for eating that had just transformed into a massive food-based battlefield. The monkey's smile widened in amusement.

The four were now standing inside, watching as food combat took place with the two teams that remained inside. "H-How could this happen!?" Ruby said in a panic as she pulled on her own hair, then noticed her sister fly up through the ceiling. "Goodwitch is soooo gonna kill them!" Her assumption wasn't unfounded.

A can of grape soda was thrown, and it was headed to Ruby's position. Sasuke saw it, and with great chivalry, placed Neptune in front of the young leader as a shield. He took the hit wordlessly, but with great irritation, if the glare to the Uchiha was anything to go by; who ignored it.

"Whoa, thanks. . . Sasuke? Neptune?" the young leader tried to thank the person who helped her unsurely. It was either Neptune who took the hit, or the Uchiha who placed him there to take the hit. Further thought had to stop as stomping could be heard and it became louder with each step.

The doors flew open, and all edible Taijutsu stopped at the moment when the teams noticed how angry Glynda looked, stomping her way to them and, at the same time, fixing everything that was damaged with her semblance, which wasn't all that much as it could have been much worse if Rose was involved. Once everything had settled down, the professor turned to the teams responsible and glared before she began stating, "get the mops, _all_ of you are cleaning up this mess." Her punishment elicited six different groans from the food combat belligerents, before a seventh groan of pain was heard from Yang as she crashed back to Remnant. Did they honestly expect such a food-fight would go ignored? Perhaps if Ozpin was there to help them out, but he wasn't.

As she began to walk out, she gave an unnoticed analytical look at Ruby, and a disappointing look for Sasuke, one he felt he knew why, so he just shrugged. There was no way he could've stopped this fight, nor would he have and most likely would've left them to it.

"At least she didn't kill them," Ruby said in relief, but that was before she was tackled into a tight hug by her older sister.

Yang was in pain from crashing to the ground, but she felt revitalized when she saw her sister at the doors. "You're back!" she exclaimed happily as she nearly crushed her younger sister, as if they didn't see her an hour before Sasuke left to Vale.

"Not for long it seems," Blake added quietly. She could have sworn that there were sounds of bones creaking that emanated from Ruby.

The young leader pushed her sister off and gasped for precious air, then addressed the group. "Yes, I'm back," she told them tiredly, it felt odd to see her sister's eyes grey, with a nearly unnoticeable tint of a blue-like color. She was getting better, and that was what mattered. "Now, could someone please tell me how all this happened!?" she asked loudly at the end.

A barrel of excuses was heard. With many that began with how Yang said that pancakes weren't good enough to start the new semester, and how Nora didn't appreciate her opinion.

"Didn't I tell you these guys were awesome?" Wukong said as he nudged his still-soaked teammate.

Neptune continued to wipe grape soda of his face, that never seemed to get off. "Yeah, they seem cool, but on of 'em is a dick," he said as he glared a bit more at the ninja before he continued to clean himself up.

At that time, another buzz from Sasuke's phone was heard. He picked it up and read that the message was from Torchwick, with the contents of the message being something very interesting, but were also irritating as he had to go back to Vale using that damnable flying machine.

The ninja walked away from the jovial teens, but not before he unnoticeably left a clone to make certain nobody noticed his absence. The contents of the message said that he would be on another job, one that would take a longer time span than a simple heist. Whatever it was, Sasuke was always ready for what's to come.

* * *

The moment he walked through the warehouse doors, he was immediately in the company of Neopolitan, who ran to his side. "Glad to see you again, Sasuke," she greeted with a genuine heartfelt smile. It probably would have fooled him for a kindhearted one if he hadn't been around her a few times.

"Neo, what is it that Torchwick wants?" the Uchiha asked the short statured woman.

"You'll see," she replied back. The smile she gave the ninja was something he had seen on Orochimaru several times; it was making him uncomfortable. "You could guess that this isn't a simple Dust theft, right?"

The Rinnegan master nodded, the massive amounts of attention given to bullheads were painfully obvious that this was for an extended mission. He walked through the massive building and was closely followed by the multi-colored woman. Around him, the Faunus were working like mad on the multiple bullheads, checking where everything was supposed to be and such.

"The prodigal son returns," the last Uchiha heard a strange accent once more from far to his side, he turned to see the large Lieutenant from previously. "After your performance at the heist, I would have assumed that the spineless thief would have stopped bringing you, since you stole more than what we agreed upon." Oddly enough, he didn't have the same fear as his lower-ranked compatriots, the large insurgent was simply irritated that this newbie had achieved a level of fear from the humans that the entire White Fang had been trying to get since the change of leadership. A fear that that this ninja procured within the first few minutes of a mission, rather than the multiple hardworking Faunus that had worked years to get.

"It wasn't Roman who asked for his return," Neopolitan informed the large bestial man with a happy smile. "It was our dear employer that wanted to hire him again, no matter the price." Now that was interesting for the Uchiha as he would make sure to ask for a substantial payment. The massive operation this seemed to prove that he was well within his right to ask for it. Also, it seemed to silence the White Fang officer.

The Lieutenant stiffened at the mention of 'employer', clearly that person made a mark on him, for he simply walked away with a growl of something along the lines of 'that damned woman'.

"Why don't we go find Roman?" Neo asked her new friend, who grunted as a positive response.

Sasuke's curiosity had risen a bit about this shadowy boss. "Who is this 'employer' you speak of?" he asked his petite companion.

"Someone who was v _ery_ interested in you, especially that eye of yours," she said mysteriously with a smirk. "She believes that it has something to do with the abilities you had shown at the docks. She said something about how it all started after your one single eye changed." Neo was practically humming as she strutted after saying that.

The Uchiha frowned and clenched his teeth with irritation. _'I need to be more careful from now on,'_ he thought. If the Deva Path brought him that much attention and interest from an underworld boss, he was concerned what the other five Rinnegan techniques would bring, even though the Preta Path had little use. Aura was not Chakra, the **Fūjutsu Kyūin** can't absorb Aura-based attacks. Even then, the Rinnegan was not dwarfed by any means on Remnant nor even in his own world.

As they continued to walk through the bustling warehouse, the duo had finally come across Torchwick, who was berating a Faunus for not doing a task fast enough.

"Why did you call me here Roman?" Sasuke demanded loudly to get the attention of the thief through the loud noises around him.

Torchwick turned to face the new monster of Remnant. "Ah, your back," he said after a nervous sigh. He felt safe that there was basically an army of battle-ready Faunus around him, he should be protected from the Uchiha, right? What was really protecting him, though, was that Sasuke was a mercenary, so as long as Roman had the currency he wanted, the safer he was. "I hope you left a note back at kindergarten, because this job will take a while." Nervous or not, he would still mock the ninja a bit.

"Do not concern yourself with that," the Rinnegan master stated dryly. "I was told that I was given a blank check for this operation." He would make use out of this rare privilege to its fullest.

Roman sighed in annoyance, he knew that Cinder tended to make these decisions that looked as though on a whim, but considering this new guy's performance and effect at the shipyard, he could understand why Fall had an interest in him. "Yeah, that's right," he confirmed irritably. "You took more than we were meant to pay you last time, like ten-fold. The only rea-"

"Roman, she said to pay him anything he wanted," Neopolitan interrupted her coworker with an irritated sigh.

" _Fine,_ but we better be getting our Dust's worth on this one," Roman grumbled out.

Sasuke spoke once more, "what's the mission this time?" The fact he was given a blank check made him expect that this job was a bit more important than the previous one.

The bowler hat man gave the Uchiha a look. "We're gonna get some new toys, and your job is to infiltrate before we go in to swipe 'em," he told him with an excited smile. "So pack up, because we're headed to Atlas."

* * *

 **Not much going on with this chapter story-wise, it's more of a continuation to where we left off and an introduction to the next sequence.**

 **Trivia:**

 **1-** **If I killed off Jaune in chapter 5, Sasuke was going to be made the leader of team JNPR, becoming team SRPN (Serpent). I thought SNPR (Sniper) would sound cliche. Plus, it's a throwback to when he was in team Hebi (Snake).**

 **2-** **If I wasn't careful, you would be reading Sasuke saying things like 'Ain't', 'watcha', 'sup', 'bruh', and 'Cuz'. Cuz I usually say em, and it accidentally leaks to him saying it sometimes within the first draft of a chapter. Unless ya'll wanna see Sasuke be a total bro at times, that's a bad idea.**

 **3-** **When I run out of ideas of relevant trivia for a chapter, I do those weird trivia about my beard. I want 3 bits of information, I don't care from where.**


	9. To Long For Something New

.

 **Chapter 9**

 **I'm sorry, the AN for this chapter seems to be missing. I hope some of you put some fliers out to help find it. It has words, letters, and they were all bolden. If you see it, please contact the closest Fanfiction police station to help it send it back my way. . . Sasuke probably stole it, you know how he is.**

* * *

 **I Bet You Can Tell The AN Was Scraping For Jokes; I Gotta Say I'm Sorry, Folks!**

* * *

 **Chapter Nine: To Long For Something New**

" **Shinra Tensei!** " a disguised Sasuke shouted out as he aimed his right hand towards another large Nevermore. This would be the ninth one flying too closely to the convoy of White Fang bullheads and other larger flying crafts. Looking around from the top of his own aircraft with his Rinnegan active, Sasuke saw no other flying Grimm nearby or approaching within the frosty air.

The entire convoy was closing in on the Atlesian weapons factory that housed this 'Paladin' or whatever it was. Once they were within a specific distance, they were going in to assault the compound. More specifically, the large group of aerial vehicles were going to hang back while Sasuke disabled the communications and sensors. If Roman's info was accurate, there wouldn't be that many people to defend the base since an Atlesian general had left with a lot of soldiers, a few guards from the factory included. The infiltration mission would be a breeze for the last Uchiha.

Said ninja sat on the roof of the still-flying bullhead, currently traversing over a snowy forest, merely keeping watch for any more flying Grimm. It was oddly better than sitting inside the giant metal box, now that he was fully aware of his surroundings, even if the air was very cold. Though he wasn't as bothered by the weather, because now that the possibility of it being the ninja's coffin now down to zero, the otherworldly warrior found it a little relaxing. However, there was a certain surprise from the first Nevermore he saw that attempted to attack his group several hours prior.

That was the first time he looked at Grimm with the Rinnegan active, and the result was nothing. Complete and utter nothing. When the former avenger saw the first Nevermore and was ready to blast it with a **Shinra Tensei** , it was the exact opposite when he saw people alight with their own Aura. Indeed, he saw the Nevermore as clearly as ever, but he hadn't seen any energy emanating from the large creature at all. The ninja could have looked at a rock and would have seen the exact same effect.

 _'Soulless creatures indeed,'_ the Rinnegan master thought with amusement as he disabled his Dojutsu. It seemed their description wasn't for nothing. The shinobi picked up his Scroll that was notifying him for a call and found it was Roman's face that popped up on screen. "The Nevermore has been taken care of," the disguised Uchiha reported.

The orange-haired thief nodded. " _Yeah, I noticed it when you shot it to Vacuo,_ " he commented wryly. " _How the hell do you do that?_ " If he wasn't blasting them away to the next continent, he was launching those black blades at the Grimm fliers. Which was another thing Torchwick had found surprising. Sasuke could literally _shoot_ those sword blades from his hands like a damned gun. As if he hadn't seen enough new skills from the Uchiha to add to the list.

"That's none of your concern," 'Gaara' said as he sat cross-legged on top of the craft. The Chakra Rods themselves didn't do much against the hefty Nevermore, but when augmented with wind or lightning Chakra, impaling the massive creatures became a little easier. He still needed to blast them away with the Deva Path, though. "I assume you called to let me know that it's time?"

Roman nodded in confirmation. " _We'll hang back until we get the all clear,_ " he added. " _Remember, communications and sensors are to be taken out from within the building. Once those are offline, then we can get in and take what we came for._ " A simple plan, remove the compound's ability to think and call for help. Without that then you could have a small army swarm in to take anything you wanted, and even take their sweet time doing it. Of course, Sasuke knew any defenses removed would be an added bonus to the operation's success rate.

The small fleet of aircraft came to a stop, holding their position until Sasuke completed his task. The ninja leapt off of the bullhead carrying him and landed onto the forest below, right on a tree's snow-covered branch. Sasuke felt a wave of nostalgia hit him as he felt the wood at his feet, taking a deep breath of the fresh, cold, woodland air. It had been so long since he'd been in a forest, and even longer since he ran across from branch to branch, which was quickly remedied.

The ninja leapt from tree to tree, headed in the direction of where the compound was supposed to be. Sasuke simply enjoyed the wind and view, which were very reminiscent of how it was back home. The breath of fresh air, the wind hitting him, and the sight of leaves in his peripheral vision as he ran forward from the tree-tops were but a reminder of what he was doing all this for.

With a boost in determination, the Uchiha moved faster across the forest with his Sharingan active, taking in every moment with increased precision.

The Grimm that noticed him on his way were easily cut down, either from a slash to their throats or stabbed through the heart with his blade. Sasuke's speed brought a great amount of momentum to each strike he used. Not even the armor of the Boarbatusk could handle the penetrative power of the sword when at speeds near body flicker.

Sasuke came to a sudden stop on one of the branches, facing a problem he hadn't expected. This new obstacle was oddly similar to the revelation on the soulless creatures of the Grimm: nothing.

There was nothing in front of him, simply a wide snowy expanse without even a dead tree to taint its perfection. Sasuke could see the compound he was meant to infiltrate without raising alarm, but it was in the center of the it all, and he was hiding behind a few trees near the outer edge of the forest. Either Roman didn't know, which was unlikely even in his foolishness, or he didn't want to tell the Uchiha, which was more than likely.

 _'This is a problem,'_ the ninja thought with annoyance. He activated his Rinnegan again to see the true essence of the issue, which came as a multitude of cameras of different varieties and functions. If he were to run across the snow-topped field, he didn't doubt that at least a few of the many surveillance devices would catch him or even his footprints. He could use the body flicker technique, but that would be a risky maneuver with the high-end military-grade cameras that ran thousands of times faster than the human eye. If it was one thing Remnant had that was better than the Elemental Nations, it was technology; Penny's existence attested to that.

The idea of the body flicker technique was moving quicker than the eye could catch, that didn't work well with military-grade cameras meant to catch invading Huntsmen. Especially when there was a massive meadow at least a kilometer in radius at its shortest. It was impossible that one of those cameras _not_ catch Sasuke if he tried.

Looking back to the distance between himself and the wall that surrounded the shinobi's objective, the very one that had several cameras at every angle. _'Perhaps, I don't have to do this alone,'_ he thought with a small knowing smirk since he knew how to render all those advanced and expensive optic devices useless. Fortunately, his Rinnegan was already active.

Without needing to draw blood, the Rinnegan master made a few seals, placed his palm on the ground between trees, and said, " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu.** " An intricate seal appeared under him before an explosion of smoke enveloped him. After the cloud dispersed, Sasuke was standing on top of the head of a large chameleon, or more specifically, the Giant Snake-Tailed Chameleon.

The Uchiha got a little disoriented from the added eyes, having the added sight of his summon's perspective was somewhat dizzying. The large one-eyed green creature still had its tongue sticking out, black spike piercings in its single intact horn, and the Rinnegan in three of its remaining eyes; snake-tail included.

Hopping off of the beast Sasuke turned to take a look at his summon. It was still as massive and ugly as ever, but possibly the most useful in terms of infiltration. He gave a mental order for it to open it's mouth to allow him in, it's response just as quick, and he was even quicker to get into the massive gob. Once it closed its mouth, he was unable to see anything, but the chameleon could. Which meant, by proxy, he could as well through its Rinnegan eyes.

 _'Go invisible and take me to the wall,'_ Sasuke ordered his summon through their shared mental connection, which it followed without missing a beat. The ninja could feel his impromptu vehicle moving at a decent speed towards the outer wall of the compound, it's empowered paws not even denting the snow it stepped on. From what he could see, none of the cameras swiveling around showed any sign of alertness.

Once the summoner and his familiar reached the wall, the creature proceeded to walk up the large barrier, not making a single sound that would alert a single guard. Up top, the snake-tail's head looked in every direction to take note of the area, which wasn't more than a five-story building, with some three-story here and there. It was as Neo had said back at the briefing, its factory and storage were underground, one way in and one way out to where the important happenings were. That only made it easier to keep track on who exited and entered.

Walking along the wall-top, there was a patrol of two soldiers wearing the official Atlas military uniform; one in red and the other in blue.

"I heard that the rate of Grimm-attacks on the border went up," the one in blue said to his patrol companion. "Apparently it started at the same time that Gaara guy came up on the news. You'd expect people to calm down since the guy went dark."

The red one shook his head. "I think it's because the guy went dark people are scared. I mean think about it. We only know that the guy seemingly has more than one semblance, nearly killed a student, and that's it. No news about him after that," the red guard said. "Forget about that for now, though. We gotta stay presentable since-" Sasuke ignored the remaining conversation of the foot patrol to focus on the mission.

It was time for the ninja to take a different disguise, one that made it easier to walk around this compound unhindered. He couldn't fit the massive chameleon through hallways inside the main building, it was all on foot from here on out.

'Gaara' waited for them to pass, then discreetly left the mouth of his summon, ordering it to dispel within the forest. It would be a bad idea if a massive explosion of smoke were to appear out of nowhere. He looked around once he was outside of the Snake-Tailed Chameleon, noting he was in the clear of surveillance at the moment, and immediately transformed into a blue-themed Atlesian soldier. He took a moment to admire his work, seeing the perfection of his disguise of a peon Atlesian soldier complete with a visored helmet, upper-body armor, and loose fitting pants.

He started walking towards the largest building and then felt the dizziness of having multiple perspectives disappear with his summon. The disguised Uchiha sighed in relief, continuing to walk towards the main building. If his information was correct, it would be the one with a way to the underground factory and storage unit.

Upon nearing the door, someone behind him spoke. "You there!" a feminine voice demanded. Sasuke turned around and saw a white uniformed woman with white hair tied in a bun and bangs covering the right side of her face. The way the woman handled herself screamed 'elite'. "What do you think you're doing?"

With a mental scowl, the last Uchiha turned to give a quick and stiff salute, as described in one of the books he had procured about the military culture of Atlas. "Just going into the main building, ma'am!" he said in a soldier-like manner.

"I could see that," the white-haired adult said as she walked towards him. "What I'm wondering is why a soldier of Atlas is walking around _without_ his weapon."

Sasuke stiffened, and noticed he indeed didn't have the same weapon as every soldier had in their hands on this base. He kicked himself mentally for not picking up on something so painfully obvious. _'Remnant made me damn complacent,'_ he thought with disapproval, he was used to transforming into people who wouldn't have weapons in their hands. "I-I forgot it inside the building, ma'am!" he gave a fake stutter in hopes to give off a rookie persona, and was glad nobody from back home could see him then.

The woman gave him a look-over, before furrowing her brows. "Then get back inside and retrieve it! I better not see you out here unarmed again," she commanded angrily. "Just because General Ironwood isn't here, don't think I will allow such shameful imperfection. I was assigned to watch over the project in his absence for a reason, and I don't intend to disappoint him."

"Yes, ma'am!" the fake soldier replied hastily before he did a one-eighty and entered the building, all while the white-haired specialist watched him until the door closed behind the 'recruit'. He gave a small sigh after the door shut behind him. _'Irritating woman,'_ Sasuke thought with displeasure. For a moment he believed his position was compromised, which would have bloodied up everything about the mission.

Sasuke began to walk along the hallways, giving the usual nod to the passing soldiers, or ignoring the scientists and engineers he passed. Occasionally he would hear gossip about the white-haired specialist who went around the compound and assessed the soldiers. That explained the annoying woman from previously.

After some wandering, the former avenger found a map on an electronic display screen. Taking a closer look, it showed the rooms and directions of the floor he was on, with on-screen directional arrows that could be pressed on the side of the glass display.

Shuffling through each map image, the ninja found that the security control center was on the third fl- No, it _was_ the third floor. Blinking a few more times, he noticed how they dedicated the entire third floor to become just one large hub for security and communication for the entire complex. _'Possibly to make lag between all the departments when cooperating to near zero,'_ the 'recruit' assumed mentally.

If there was an attack, the operators could handle comms and coordinate with the defensive base units instantly, all while reporting to the higher-ups who were off-base immediately when an event or situation occurred. Updates to exact events on exact times, not a bad idea, but that was if you were so confident of your outer sensors and surveillance to detect any infiltrator before even reaching the outer wall. Clearly, they needed to work on their first line of defense to detect large otherworldly creatures that could go invisible on all visual frequencies.

This could be a major advantage to the shinobi if he played his cards right. It would either result in a quick success or a failure that compromised the entire mission. On one hand, everything that he needed to be taken out was in a single area. But on the other hand, there would be so many people, that any mistake could give that one person a chance to warn the entire Atlesian armed forces and ruin his operation.

 _'This needs to be handled with great care,'_ the Uchiha thought in contemplation for his approach to the situation. He could enter the center as he was with this disguise, so that's the infiltration part done. Should he simply improvise as he went along? He wasn't like his blonde best friend, Sasuke was a ninja that made his opponent think the Uchiha was five steps ahead of him, when he was actually twenty steps beyond that. Everything needed to be planned.

Fortunately, Sasuke didn't need to do more than simply connect his new Scroll to the computers of each system for a moment. Roman and Neo said that they would be able to handle everything after that. Doubly fortunate for him, those computers were within spitting distance of each other, and each could probably be accessed easily enough.

He didn't know how connecting the Scroll given to him by the thief would help, but the Gaara impersonator didn't understand computers well enough to argue. He knew that the White Fang wanted Paladins, Roman wanted to acquire said mechs, and they wouldn't like not having the massive weapon after the mission; that was enough for the Uchiha to do as he was told with the device.

He gave the map a glimpse with the Sharingan from under his visor on all the floors available to be shown on the digital map, which were only ground floor to rooftop, and memorized the passages at a single glance. The shinobi memorized the floor plans before deactivating his eyes, ready to commence phase two of the job he had been hired to do.

Taking the stairs, it didn't take long for the former avenger to find the heavy metal doors that connected to the center of communication and defense. It would have been easy to enter, but it was guarded by two Atlesian Knights bots, the new white-wash models. They didn't look intimidating as much as they seemed high-end. _'As if clean and modern made them stronger in combat,'_ Sasuke scoffed internally.

The Uchiha was going to pass through, but was stopped by the robotic guards. "Halt," he heard in an electronic voice. "Only authorized personnel are permitted to enter this sector."

"I thought this floor was permitted to every guard," the ninja asked with a frown. It was the hub of security for the entire compound, after all, surely any soldier would be permitted to enter.

The robot shook its head. "Incorrect information. Only officials, operators, and Commissioned Officers are permitted to enter," was all it said, then merely stood there watching the disguised ninja. It wasn't a good time to experiment if the Uchiha patented glare worked on lifeless machines, so he stepped away from the door irritably instead of causing a scene.

Now, the 'recruit' needed to find a way inside without causing anything that could raise an alarm. It was times like this where he wished he was Naruto and simply bashed through obstacles until everything worked out, but Sasuke doubted he had _that_ kind of luck. If he did, he wouldn't have been on Remnant in the first place.

Standing in the hallway a floor below the control center, the Uchiha needed to find a way to enter the damned control room. He needed someone with a high rank, someone where the first look at them would remove any possibility of doubt who that person was.

The Uchiha smirked softly as he remembered the pompous white-haired woman from earlier, _'I may have Naruto's luck, but in a different way,'_ he thanked the blonde idiot's contagiousness.

Finding privacy in a hallway was impossible with all the cameras everywhere and the occasional guard, so the 'recruit' had to settle for using an empty bathroom. Thankfully, it seemed that Atlas generals weren't ones for voyeurism, unlike a certain dead Sannin.

Sasuke made a cross seal, and muttered out, " **Kage Bunshin.** " A cloud of smoke later, a clone who was wearing the same disguise as him, now with a gun as not to be harassed by any officers like earlier. The Uchiha made another seal and was enveloped by a cloud of smoke. It only took a few seconds for the cloud to disperse, and there stood in Sasuke's place was the irritating woman who berated him for not carrying a weapon.

The two saboteurs nodded to one another as the clone left first, to make certain that the white-haired elitist was away from his area as much as possible. The original Sasuke left the restroom a minute later, arms behind his back, eyes condescendingly forward, nose slightly high, and a confident strut while he walked.

The 'specialist' walked out of the lavatory in an image of great confidence, he was immediately faced by a wandering blue-colored guard. If his wide-eyed response and quick salute at the infiltrator's appearance was anything to go by, the transformation was spot on. "Don't you have somewhere to be?" the 'specialist' asked in a condescending manner.

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" was the soldier's immediate response before he continued his stiff patrol.

Looking at the stiff-marching guard, Sasuke had to squash the feeling of needing to berate the odd way the soldier was walking. For now, he had an advanced military network to hack.

He continued on his way, drawing fearful and respectful salutes from recruits and veterans alike. _'Could this person be that important?'_ the Uchiha pondered. He had heard of Atlesian specialists before, but he didn't know they had such authority over others. Perhaps it was because she was in charge of the base while the general was away. _'Here comes stage two.'_

Nearing the heavy doors of the control center, the robots did a quick salute and greeted in their electronic voice, "Welcome, Specialist Schnee."

Sasuke made sure not to trip on himself when he heard the name, but subtly took a deep breath and exhaled just as discreetly. _'I seem to run into something Schnee one way or another,'_ he mused. If it wasn't their Dust, it was a family member's identity he was stealing.

The disguised infiltrator focused forward and saw the entire center giving him a standing salute. As if he didn't have enough attention when he was simply 'Sasuke'. Looking around after the shuffling of chairs stopped, Sasuke noted that it was quite a massive room. There were computers and monitors littered on every wall and every table in an organized manner. Everybody saw what the other was seeing.

"At ease," he told them, quoting from the book he learned about Atlesian military culture. _'Time to get phase three started.'_ He looked to the closest computer operator and moved towards him, causing the poor fool to sweat a bit when he noticed the attention. "You there," the infiltrator beckoned in exactly the same way the specialist had done to him.

The operator stood up stiffly and saluted. "Y-Yes, Miss Schnee," he answered squeakily.

"Why don't you show me what you're doing," the 'Schnee' ordered in a commanding tone, moving closer to watch his computer desk. He was told that placing the Scroll on the computer desk would be enough for Roman and Neo to infect the machine.

"It's just simple radio monitoring, ma'am," the man said with comfort slowly creeping back to him, unknowing that he had practically just given up the compounds capability to call for help.

Sasuke took out the Scroll and hoped his group was ready to begin hacking. Roman had said that they would simply wait for him to place the device necessary. "I'll be the judge of that," 'Winter' said as she went over his station, then placed the hacking device on the screen's display. He missed the chess queen that appeared for a fraction of a moment on the electronic Scroll.

A small ping came from the little machine, which signified that the first task was successful, communications were now under White Fang control. When the attack commenced, the people outside of the base would be none the wiser, and those inside would be told that help was coming, but all hope was lost for that. All that was left on Sasuke's list now was the surveillance.

"This is acceptable," the disguised Uchiha commented critically to the operator, who breathed out heavily in relief. "Now sho-" Another ping was heard from the device in his hands. _'The second ping signifies that the next objective was hacked. How?'_ he thought in confusion with furrowed brows before he turned to the operator. "Tell me, if I were to ask for the surveillance section of the control center, where would I go?"

Now it was the operators turn to be confused, but other than the slight tilt of the head, he didn't show it. He did, however, widen his eyes in some form of realization, but it wasn't because he noticed that he was lied to. "This is a test," he whispered to himself quietly, which was heard by the near-face-palming saboteur. "Well, Miss Schnee, all computers here are connected to a single mainframe, as to insure widespread and quick access of information gathered by each operator in the center. Thus, it depends who has serveilence duty for them to have it available on their station." The Atlesian employee was practically beaming after his misplaced realization.

"Correct, Private. . .?" the Uchiha waited for the fool to answer after his designated rank.

"Simmons, ma'am," the now-named Simmons replied in controlled joy.

His happy attitude was slightly disconcerting. "I will be sure to inform the superiors of your. . . efficiency," the 'specialist' informed. "For now, I will leave you with your duty." He made his way to exit the room, which was unhindered, before he had a small headache from his clone vanishing.

The clones memories told him that the real Winter Schnee was done inspecting the surrounding defenses, and was now headed to where Sasuke was to continue her evaluation. It didn't matter anymore, the entire military complex was now off the grid. They couldn't receive help, nor find out who was attacking from where.

The ninja turned to the operatives once more. "I will return, best you be prepared," he addressed them before he left through the heavy metal doors, the Atlesian Knights saluting as he passed them. The Uchiha sent a quick message to his group to temporarily malfunction the camera in the elevator, so he could change back to his disguise without the ones in the center noticing him.

He went inside the elevator, waiting for just a moment before transforming back to the blue soldier he was disguised as previously. Fully with a weapon this time around since he knew the relative of Weiss was about to enter the elevator with him.

Soon enough, the doors opened and revealed the strong and confident Schnee strutting towards him, completely unaware of the convoy of White Fang aircraft headed directly towards them. Sasuke gave her a salute, more out of 'goodbye' than to keep his disguise.

Winter Schnee noticed the soldier and recognized him from previously. "I see you have your weapon this time," she said condescendingly. "I hope you don't forget regulation so easily in the future. For your sake." The ninja hoped he wasn't like this when he was younger with team seven.

"Of course, ma'am!" he retorted. Sasuke didn't know how she recognized him so easily when everybody around looked similar, even with the small name tags attached to the armor. _'What kind of last name is 'Caboose'?'_ he thought with annoyance. Coming from a world where his last name held much prestige, Sasuke couldn't fathom having one as idiotic sounding as this.

He was just about to exit the elevator, but the ground shook from an explosion that happened somewhere within the complex, something thought to be impossible to the defenders. _'Seems the assault has started,'_ the ninja concluded.

Sasuke would have left, but Winter had just slammed the button for the third floor, uncaring of who was with her. "No," Winter said in anger to the situation, just as another explosion was felt. It took no time for the lift to reach the third floor, just as much as it took for her to storm past the fake soldier and the Atlesian Knights, not even acknowledging their salutes and greeting.

A third explosion was heard and felt, it must have hit something important because the lights went out before coming back on, the hallways now illuminated by emergency power. The Rinnegan master's job was done, he had no need to stay any longer than he should. Before he could make his escape, however, the doors of the center opened once more, and revealed a furious Schnee.

"-on't care, try again to contact those to lock down the underground unit," the shinobi heard what was left of the specialist's order, and he didn't like it. True, they had this base incapable of receiving help or detect trouble, but locking down the underground, which contained what they came here for, for an extended amount of time would cause some level of alert from headquarters. Days? Weeks? Months? Sasuke didn't know how long they could hold out until the bosses get suspicious; all while Atlas kept the Paladins.

"What's happening?" the fake soldier asked while he was still in the elevator.

The white-haired Atlesian growled. "We're under attack, but the base's sensors aren't detecting anything," she answered with irritation, which increased even further when the PA system came to life.

" _White Fang airships spotted from all sides! All units to their assigned positions!_ " the speakers blared.

The Uchiha could feel the rumbling beneath his feet as soldiers began following orders from their higher ranked superiors. He almost didn't notice it when Schnee unlocked a hidden panel on the elevator, pressed a few keys, and the lift began speeding downwards, to a level below ground floor.

"Consider this me not having enough time to dismiss you, Private," Winter said when she began stomping out the elevator towards a warehouse-like expanse, where a few people in lab coats were running around working either on their Scrolls or the computers like mad. "Don't touch anything, you're not even supposed to be here, but-" another explosion was felt. "Damn it!" She ignored him after that and left the Uchiha in favor of a gathering group of officers.

They stood stiff and saluted. "Specialist Schnee, your orders?" the leader of them asked. Veteran fighters of the compound, the Uchiha surmised.

"I want all the Paladins to be in the storage unit when we lock it down!" the white-haired woman commanded. "We can't detect the enemy on our sensors, inter-base radio communications are out, and our defense systems are malfunctioning. We have to hold out until the reinforcements I asked for arrive." A quick 'yes, ma'am' later, both officers and droids that gathered immediately set to work on her commands.

Sasuke was impressed on how quick these soldiers followed her orders, a shame that help wasn't coming as soon as they expected. . . or at all. He certainly didn't miss the wall opening up from the middle as it turned out to be a massive gate for the storage unit, and inside was what the entire operation was for; what he was hired to help steal.

Massive somewhat skeletal robots that looked armed to the teeth with weapons from different varieties. If Roman's word was anything to go by, these massive machines were not droids, but massive suits meant to be operated by a pilot.

"Get the half-built ones in there as well!" Sasuke heard the Schnee order, what was heard next proved that it was a good decision on her part.

" _White Fang have breached the comp-_ " was all the PA system said before another explosion occurred, this time in the very building that the Uchiha was in. It shook the floor he was standing on so violently that it made several people who weren't grasping something fall to the ground.

"Those damn bastards!" The normally well-mannered Schnee cursed. She looked to her troops, then back to the Paladins that were slowly making their way to be locked down in storage through a tram, but it was too slow and too late. A large explosion occurred where the previously working elevators were located, which left a massive hole above them. The entire sub-floor was coated with debris and rubble, several insurgents soon dropping down from the new entry way.

"Now, now, we wouldn't want these lovely machines locked away, would we?" a condescending voice said once he noticed the Paladin's intended destination. Roman released his grip on the rope that brought him down, several others dropping down the same way. Roman stepped forward, flanked by Neopolitan and two platoons of White Fang soldiers; outnumbering the Atlesian soldiers and droids by a decent margin. "It's a shame you didn't have the amount of men you usually have, might have even put up a decent fight." He even took a puff of his cigar to show how relaxed he was, all while looking around for a familiar face.

Winter stepped forward, setting an example as a leader of the remaining troops. "You would be foolish to think you could win against professionally trained Atlesian troops. You don't have enough manpower to win against us," she said in a confident voice, oblivious to what was happening with the troops behind her.

Roman's eyes widened as Neopolitan smirked, and several White Fang began taking a step back at the familiar display. It wasn't from Specialist Schnee, who was surprised at the reaction she thought she was getting, but was relieved that her speech was having an effect; or so she thought.

"Hmph, you would be right to be afraid of us," the specialist scoffed at the hesitation of the opposing group.

"They aren't like that because of you," she heard a dry statement from a familiar voice behind her. When she turned around to scold the rookie soldier she brought with her, she was stunned at the sight that greeted her. "They fear me far more than they do a woman like you."

Every single officer that was there was on the ground, knocked out from a lightning augmented strike to the back of the neck. They felt nothing and heard nothing as the Uchiha flickered soundlessly between people, starting with those farthest to the rear, making sure none had enough time to figure out what had happened to the comrades behind them. When they did, they had little time to react or even yell before he finished them off and headed to the next target.

The droids were another matter, he had to strengthen his kunai with a multitude of Chakra properties to keep it from breaking against their metal and to have it slice through said armor. Regardless, he got the job done. With an empowered kunai in one hand, and electric strikes with the other, he had neutralized every opponent except Winter.

Said Schnee was stunned and wide-eyed, but most of all, she was enraged. Before she could shout in outrage she had a small revelation that she spoke aloud. "When everything malfunctioned at the control room, it was from you, wasn't it?" The fake soldier nodded. "You. . . You **TRAITOR!** " she yelled as she ran towards him with her saber, her eyes cold with hatred. She had accepted this assignment directly from General Ironwood himself, she would eliminate the one who had caused her to fail such an important objective.

When she neared, the saboteur was enveloped by smoke. "I'm not exactly a traitor, since I was never with you in the first place," he said as a black blade came up to block Schnee's sword strike.

When the smoke dispersed, Winter gasped. "Gaara!?" she exclaimed in shock when she saw the redheaded Kazekage. His left eye was glowing a light purple, the criminal holding the black sword that had blocked her weapon.

" **Shinra Tensei,** " the Uchiha said out loud with his free palm facing her, which pushed the white-haired woman to the wall on the other side. "Roman, go collect the Paladins, I'll handle the woman."

Roman nodded a little too eagerly, but followed the Uchiha's orders and commanded his White Fang group to start moving the Paladins. They would get their mechs with little opposition, that's what they had hired the ninja for.

Winter, however, wouldn't go down without a fight. Using her Glyph to stop her flight the Schnee shot forward to pierce Torchwick's head as he approached the storage unit. "You won't take anything!" she shouted out as she flew, which stopped short against a black blade from Gaara once more. "You bastard," she seethed out as she brought out her shorter blade from the hilt of her saber to stab him in the Rinnegan eye, but was surprised when another black blade appeared to stop that as well

"Atlas specialists seem to be lacking," Sasuke stated as he blocked the small blade, pushing Winter aside with his Chakra Rods. She poised for another strike, but in a different way.

The Schnee stabbed the ground below her to create a Glyph, which summoned several snow-white birds that flew around her. She simply looked to the saboteur as the flock of white birds shot towards him to pierce his body.

The Rinnegan master was surprised at the strange form of summoning, it was far from being the same kind from his home. Sasuke knew if a single one landed a damaging blow it would remove his transformation and reveal his true identity. The Uchiha let the blades in his hands disappear and began making seals, determined to keep the birds from ever laying a feather on him. At the final seal, he breathed in and shouted out towards the offender's summons, " **Fire Release: Great Fireball!** " A large torrent of flame came forth and swallowed Schnee's attack, burning every single bird to ash.

The flames whittled away, and on the other side was an awestruck Winter, still on the ground with her sword stabbed through the floor. "H-How did you-" she said before she dodged left to avoid several smaller fireballs hitting the ground she was on. This 'Gaara' could not only manipulate gravity and bring forth swords from his body, but could also spew flames from his mouth and transform into other people. Schnee concluded that he was by far the most dangerous man she'd met, already planning to inform her general of the threat he posed.

"Do you understand the difference between you and I now, Schnee?" 'Gaara' asked the surprised woman. "Even with your abilities, you cannot ever hope to beat me."

Winter began to grit her teeth in her growing rage. She was being talked down to by a vagrant, even if a powerful one. "So you can spit fire, is that meant to strike me with fear?" she asked him scornfully. "I am a warrior of Atlas, I won't bow down to you terrorists!" she shouted back while summoning a white Ursa Major. She pointed her weapon towards Sasuke as the creation charged towards him.

The Uchiha sighed, he didn't really know what to expect, but specialists were meant to be pretty unique here on Remnant. He brought out another Chakra Rod, filled it with wind Chakra and hacked the summoned creature down the middle. Sasuke jumped left a second later to avoid being stabbed by Schnee, who jumped between both halves and attempted to strike him.

The ninja had to hand it to his opponent, she was possibly the best fighter he had seen so far on Remnant; which wasn't saying much as he hadn't fought all that many. He was confused when she continued her dash forwards, right past the Uchi- _'She's headed towards the Paladins!'_ he realized, the Schnee was headed to the lockdown switch on the wall beside the massive gate. Sasuke brought out his palm to bring her back, but his plan was disrupted as he had to dodge again from a duo of white Beowulves that appeared behind him.

Winter wasn't a fool, she knew her Beowulves wouldn't last long to keep him occupied. She read every report on him, which was severely lacking, but he had shown abilities that weren't known even now. Gaara was a monster by every meaning of the word, he was an unknown, a ghost, a criminal, and vicious. If she were to lose, then so be it, but she wouldn't allow them to succeed with their objective.

Using Glyphs to accelerate past the White Fang, in front of her was the switch in question. A single press and the entire storage unit would be inaccessible to anyone but the one who knew the code, which not even she knew. They would indeed grab a few of the Paladins that weren't locked down, but that was nothing compared what was inside the storage area.

She was only a few short meters away from ending the White Fang's goal until someone appeared in front of her. 'Sasuke' brought his palm to his side and did a slashing motion, a black blade growing as his arm traveled. "No!" Schnee yelled out as she brought her saber to cut down the saboteur, but was blocked and was blown away from a ' **Shinra Tensei** '. They were back to square one.

Sasuke looked as calm as ever, getting rid of the summons wasn't difficult, it merely took a single quick augmented slash to kill both of them. **Amenotejikara** was all he needed in the situation, and that was exactly what he used to teleport directly in front of the Schnee. Even if she had managed to press the button quickly enough Sasuke was confident he could break in with relative ease.

Sasuke stood in front of Winter in his disguised form. "I'm impressed that you were able to get past me, even for a moment," he told her, and noticed how her panting had become much more pronounced since earlier. "But you aren't strong enough to stop me and my goal." Her Aura's light was much dimmer than previously, she was running out of fuel.

Gritting her teeth, the white-haired woman brought her two blades up again, but this time slightly out of her usual form. "I won't submit to a monster," she said with anger.

 _'Sharingan is just barely working on Pyrrha. I don't know if it would work as it should on a fully trained specialist,'_ the shinobi thought with distaste, he hoped his illusion held on longer before Pyrrha began fully remembering what happened. Killing a special operative did not bode well, killing other soldiers was fine, they were mere peons, but gutting a specially trained operative from a high-class powerful family was something else entirely.

Winter dashed forward, swords in both hands. Slashing, hacking, and stabbing, every single strike missed their mark as Gaara weaved and parried away with his own black swords. Winter was getting tired, but she wouldn't allow herself to lose form, her training in Atlas assured that. "I won't lose to you!" she shouted out, as she had her swords locked with the Chakra Rods.

'Gaara' scoffed as he replied, "you don't have a choice."

The next thing Schnee knew, was a blade that pierced her thigh, but it wasn't Sasuke's. "Gah!" she exclaimed in surprise, which was enough for the Uchiha as he shot out a Chakra-strengthened palm strike to her gut. Winter skidded backward before she collapsed to one knee, gripping her wound.

"Neo," the Rinnegan master said as he glanced at the person who struck his opponent, she was standing there with a smile and her blade out of its sheath. "How many are left to be taken?"

She slotted her sword back into the Umbrella. "Not much. A few more minutes, then we would have the entirety of what's in storage," she answered and looked to the Schnee who tore her sleeve to wrap around her bleeding stab wound, then back to the ninja. "If she's that much of a problem, perhaps I should have done the job myself." She opened up her umbrella and placed it over her shoulder. She didn't like that her mission was taken away, but she could set that aside for her new friend to have the spotlight. After all, things tended to get more interesting whenever he was involved.

Sasuke shook his head. "I can handle her, just make sure she doesn't reach the lockdown button," he retorted and pointed towards the switch, "I will be done shortly."

"Don't keep me waiting," she said wryly as she walked towards where the Paladins were being lifted by White Fang bullheads to the above level, and stood beside the switch.

Looking forward again, he watched as Winter limped back up and stood shakily with an imperfect battle stance. "You realize you have now lost on all accounts, haven't you?" he asked rhetorically, he could see her clearly as she clenched her teeth and tightened the grip on her weapons. "Your men are either dead or unconscious, the base is under our control, and we've nearly finished taking the last of the Paladins. You've failed."

"Shut up!" she screamed as she ran towards him, much slower and sloppier than before.

The Uchiha didn't need the Sharingan to take her on, he didn't even need the Rinnegan at this point. Regardless, he brought his palms up facing her, but a time dilation glyph appeared behind her. Sasuke had to stop this nuisance, so instead of yelling out his technique, he shot a wind Chakra-imbued Chakra Rod from his hand. The weapon pierced her uninjured thigh, effectively pinning her to the ground.

"Argh!" she yelled, now stopped from everything she was planning, and looked to the offender, who still had his palm up facing her. The pain was terrible, but the sight before her was even more so. Winter saw the stony-faced Gaara, in his perfect state, she realized how she couldn't even touch him and how she was at his mercy. "I'm never forgetting this humiliation, Gaara. One day, you will be the one at my feet," she seethed as she gripped her impaled thigh.

Sasuke shook his head. "That will never happen," he said dully as he suddenly appeared behind her and hit the back of her head with an electrical punch. The lightning coursed through her brain and caused her to black out near instantly. He allowed his blade to disappear when she fell forward.

With both teal-colored eyes once more, he looked back to the Paladin storage area. It seemed as though Torchwick took every mech suit, as the only ones remaining were a few White Fang stragglers, Neopolitan, and the cigar smoker himself.

"Are we done here?" 'Gaara' asked monotonously.

The thief couldn't believe it. This kid not only handled an Atlesian specialist, but he had also won completely unscathed from the fight, on top of showing that he could shoot fire from his mouth. "Yeah, we're done here," Neo said happily instead of Roman. She wasn't as surprised as Torchwick, but even she was slightly stunned at the new abilities she had seen Sasuke use. "We're leaving right now, actually." The Uchiha nodded and moved towards the bullhead waiting for them to board.

Roman moved closer to his multi-colored companion and whispered, "Cinder is gonna want to hear about this. It's way too surreal for him to be able to do these kinds of things."

Neo nodded, fully agreeing with his statement. "Yeah, she'll even want him, but I don't think she would find it as easy as she thinks," she said with a grin.

"What makes you say that?" the thief asked curiously.

The petite woman gave him a full-blown smile. "Because he's too powerful for her to handle so smoothly," she replied, the smile never leaving her face.

Roman gulped nervously, they were working with someone whose description could be simply 'too strong', and that was worrying for him. He kept his comments to himself when the boy they were talking about walked over to them. "I've decided on the amount of Dust you'll be giving me for this operation." the disguised saboteur stated.

Torchwick gritted his teeth at the Uchiha's demanding tone, but knew that he couldn't argue back with such a powerful man, "Yeah, alright. What's it gonna be? A crate? A van's worth? A-"

"Freight container," the Uchiha interrupted.

The man's eyes bulged at that demand, the kid asked for the same amount of Dust he took last time, and it was an insane amount by itself. "Are you insane!?" he shouted, completely forgetting about the ninja's handling of Winter. "Do you have any idea of what you're asking for!?" If he sold the amount of Dust that was in a single container in this current market, he could live comfortably for years.

Sasuke seemed unaffected by the outburst as he continued, "I am asking for my payment, and you will provide it," he stated as though it was fact.

"Oh yeah? Well, you can g-" he stopped talking when he felt Neo pull on his pants, then point towards the passed out specialist. Roman saw the downed woman before he remembered the past few minutes. He looked towards the new guy and felt uncomfortable at this stare. "Alright, whatever you say." It wasn't his Dust anyway, but he had worked hard to steal it.

After a nod, 'Gaara' went to sit atop of the bullhead, ready to go back to Beacon and continue his day-to-day routine until a new assignment came up. He received a massive amount of Dust, and was a step closer to his way home. Sasuke laid back and closed his blessed eyes as he thought with determination, _'just wait for me, everyone. I'll be back soon.'_

* * *

 **I love Winter in canon. I think she's dope.**

 **Trivia:**

 **1- Winter wasn't meant to be shown here in the initial outline, but season 3 convinced me that she should be there since she was overseeing the paladins, as mentioned in Volume 3 Episode 4.**

 **2- Since chapter 2 of this story, I've been using quotes from Jacob Grimm as titles. I try to find ones that would sound most relevant to the chapter. Holy shit there were** **some really dark stuff. . . It was awesome.**

 **3- Tucson was meant to have Chakra unlocked after his King of Hell treatment, then become a ninja trainee of Sasuke's. Now, after Pyrrha's healing instead of Jaune's death, that ain't gonna happen.**

 **I often imagine if Sasuke was suddenly sent to another franchise. . . like Madea.**


	10. Hair Black As Ebony

**.**

 **Chapter 10**

 **I never understood how a ninja's defense works. As far as I can tell, they are just as squishy as you and me, but they have techniques to reverse that. "But TOP, Naruto and Sasuke BlurbleBlurbleBlurble!" I understand that, but they still dodge or block kunai and shuriken. Hell, Sasuke was stabbed several times by Bee at the same time. What does that tell you? Whatever counter-argument you have, I will repeat what I just said and it'll go full circle again and again. Loopholes man, they suck. I stand by my belief, though.**

* * *

 **This Is A Hobby Of Mine That I Rather Like; Take That From Me, You'll Find Your Head On A Pike!**

* * *

 **Chapter Ten: Hair Black As Ebony**

Back at the warehouse, nearly a day or so since returning from the mission, an undisguised Sasuke found something slightly off. "Roman, why is this place nearly empty?" he asked the thief.

Before they left to Atlas, the base of operations had always been bustling with activity. But now there was only a small group of Faunus prepping another bullhead containing a small Dust freighter to leave the area, while another seemed to be building a stage of some sort. The building, however, still had a few containers around, but the Uchiha assumed that most of them would be moved soon.

On the way back to Vale, many of the bullheads and larger ships broke off from the convoy to another area. Sasuke didn't think much of it however, as long as he was paid their business meant nothing to him.

Roman, who walked behind the ninja with Neo by his side, answered the question casually, "well, we're changing locations, and we're preparing to get some new recruits in this place."

Sasuke nodded in understanding, he knew the dangers of staying in the same place for too long, and they might as well get some usage out this building before they abandon it. "And what of my payment?" he asked.

Torchwick merely gestured to his surroundings. "Just pick a container and try to take it," he said with a challenging smirk. The smoker didn't know how the ninja took the last container, he assumed he had gotten some help from the pilot. But now no one would assist him in taking the hefty payment.

After he lowered a quirked brow at the odd antic, Sasuke made his way to one of larger containers in the building. He could imagine Roman's grin enlarging, as if he would watch the ninja fail taking what was now his, but that soon turned to befuddlement when the Uchiha took out a paper scroll.

Opening the sealing scroll Sasuke placed it on the massive metal container. "I'll be taking this one," the former avenger said before the large Dust container vanished in an explosion of smoke.

Everybody blinked. Neo, however, laughed out loud for all to hear, fully knowing that Roman's petty attempt at bullying would fail in some shape or form. The fact that the shinobi did something even she didn't expect only served to amplify her mirth.

After the storage scroll was tucked away, he heard Torchwick exclaim, "how the hell did you do that!?" The crime lord then ran towards the shinobi while looking anxiously at the empty part of the floor where the massive metal box used to sit. Turning back towards Sasuke, Roman asked again, "h-how?"

It was tiring to hear the thief ask the question repeatedly, so Sasuke gave him the same dull response, "that's none of your concern."

"Hold up, I get that you can turn into other people. Shooting blades from your bare hands? I can handle that. When you spat fire was fine, and even when you blast away other people just by raising your hand at 'em, I got around to accepting that," Roman stated before he paused for a breath. "But having a big container like that, which weighs tons might I add, disappear into nothingness because of that roll of toilet paper? I can't get my he-" He then fell to the floor face first. Neo decided to poke the thief with her umbrella to make sure he was unconscious, then grinned to her new friend. That was yet another ability she hadn't seen from him till now.

Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan and began to walk away, with the nervous eyes of the Faunus insurgents on him. Before he could leave, however, one decided to step in his way.

He watched the entire debacle with the other humans, and even hoped that the young teen was shown his place, but was irritated when the exact opposite occurred. The Lieutenant spoke angrily in his accented gruff voice, "you tend to take more than what's agreed upon, Uchiha. Don't expect me to allow this whenever you wish." He was pissed that this brat was taking more than he should; even if it was a blank check this time around from someone who was possibly far worse than the ninja. As far as the large Faunus was concerned, Sasuke was taking equipment from the revolutionaries.

"You aren't strong enough to stop me," the Uchiha retorted plainly, as though to a child.

Lieutenant scowled under his mask. He had heard how this mercenary won against a large security force and an Atlesian specialist; unscathed to boot. "Perhaps I may not be, but I know someone who can." Adam wasn't one to lose against a mere child, even if a strong one.

The Uchiha glared irritably at the muscular Faunus. "Move," he ordered.

With displeasure, the Lieutenant stepped aside, but not before he gave a final warning, "Watch yourself, Uchiha. There are stronger people than you."

Sasuke silently scoffed and walked out of the warehouse. _'Not in this world, fool.'_

Outside in the cold and crisp early morning air, the shinobi leapt up to the lamppost nearby. Then from there he moved to a building, which began a sequence of jumps from rooftop to rooftop, each one bringing him closer to Beacon.

Leaping from the top of buildings in the early morning, the Uchiha made excellent time reaching the bullhead pads, but he wasn't going to use them. His clone was still in the academy making sure nobody suspected a thing about his absence, it would prove counterproductive if he waltzed in when 'Sasuke' was supposed to be sleeping.

He hadn't been gone long, merely two days or so at most. According to Roman, the mission was supposed to have taken longer. But since Sasuke had eliminated the threat of Nevermore interruptions, the transportation time between kingdoms with lightly armed aircraft was far quicker than expected. Even the return trip with the massive and heavy Paladins was faster than previously expected.

 _'Are these creatures that difficult to fight?'_ the Uchiha had pondered on that more than once during the trip to and fro Atlas. He asked the same question to Neo, and she said that while certain individual Grimm were fairly easy to fight, what they lacked in power they made up in numbers. A horde tended to become difficult to deal with, especially with aged Grimm added to the mix.

A few minutes into his return journey to Beacon, the shinobi was once again walking along the ceiling in a pattern to avoid the cameras the headmaster placed. No more detection devices had been added, so the route was the same as before. The halls were empty as well, nobody was up this late except for the Uchiha.

Sasuke's clone was sitting on the bed wide awake as it waited for him, the copy dispelled the moment the original showed his face. The memories weren't anything of interest, other than the usual school session, hanging out with the usual teams, normal boring classes. One thing that was out of the norm was how a large Atlesian armed force, including warships, began appearing very recently outside of Beacon.

The bed looked very attractive to the ninja, he had been awake during the entire duration of the mission; both deployment and return. He received very good practice with the **Shinra Tensei** against those irritating Nevermores, even his aim with shooting the Chakra Rods had been tested and proven accurate against the Grimm.

Sasuke plopped down on the mattress with a weary sigh. Traveling to a different kingdom, all while fighting several large flying Grimm for several hours on end, had proved tiring to the Uchiha. Invading a fortress between the journeys didn't help things either. He was content with the beginning of his rest, which wasn't as long as he had hoped.

The Beacon Scroll rang its alarm, signifying the time to wake up and prepare for the day ahead. The Uchiha grunted as he sat up from his relaxed position. Since he was still awake, which wasn't from his choice, he may as well give the Dust to Tatsuya before he headed out.

After the usual process, he muttered out, " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu.** " Sure enough, the large green garter snake appeared, ready to receive and relay information. _'I might need a smaller summon if he grows any longer.'_ The serpent had probably passed the four meter length mark and had to coil onto itself to fit on the floor of Sasuke's room.

"Summoner," the snake greeted in a noticeably deeper voice than previously. "I bring a message from your human friend."

The ninja sighed. "You told them I wouldn't abandon them again, right?" he asked his summon, who nodded.

"He says that you shouldn't lose yourself to your objective," Tatsuya relayed. "He also said that your lack of reply after your previous theft was worrying, and said to not forget what's truly important." He scoffed after that. "What your friend said makes no sense to me, regardless, I did my duty and gave you his message."

Sasuke was confused. _'Is Naruto implying that I would do here what I did when chasing Itachi?'_ he pondered at his friend's insinuation. The Uchiha had no true connection of either love or hate here on Remnant, so there was no chance for him to lose himself, right? He shook his head after that thought and brought out the storage seal that held his Dust payment. "Tell Naruto there is no chance of losing myself here, and take this to the White Snake Sage," he ordered the snake, who took the paper scroll and swallowed it before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke stood still as he looked at the section of the floor where Tatsuya once sat, trying to understand the contents of Naruto's message. The Uchiha shook his head and thought, _'Naruto is overthinking this.'_ He dismissed his friend's allegation after that in favor of taking a much-needed shower.

After his usual morning routine of showering, the Rinnegan master was forced to actually wear the Beacon student uniform this time around; his shinobi garb wasn't clean in the slightest after wearing it for days. While that usually wasn't a problem to the ninja, this kind of attention to cleanliness was needed if you wished to conform on Remnant.

 _'Only for one day,'_ Sasuke thought to himself as his discomfort grew with the stiff cloth the abomination was made out of. He'd make sure his clone cleaned his usual clothes from the grime and sweat that had accumulated during his previous mission.

Once outside, he was greeted by team RWBY as he walked to class. "Mornin' Sasuke," Ruby greeted him with a wave before giving him a look over. "Why are you in uniform?"

That confused the former avenger. "Shouldn't I be?" he asked with honest curiosity.

"We're free from classes for the day," Yang replied before a look of realization struck her. "You skipped classes again, didn't you?" Several classes mentioned this free day, she had assumed Sasuke would have attended at least one of them.

Recalling his clone's memory, the ninja either didn't focus on the class or skipped it all together. It was difficult to point out the important information from useless when attending Port's lecture.

"Perhaps you're not as studious as we expected," Weiss stated a little smugly. She couldn't believe how Sasuke beat her in every subject, including the ones that he never attended. She'd take any victory she could get over him.

"He still beat you in all those classes though." Xiao Long retorted the obvious thing the heiress didn't want to hear, which now put her under the scorn of her white-haired teammate. She had a small win, and that was taken away by her very own blonde comrade.

The tired Uchiha was tempted to show another Schnee her place, but squashed that little temptation when his Beacon Scroll buzzed. Taking the device out, he found it was a message that urgently called for him to the Headmaster's office. "Seems my presence is needed at Ozpin's again," he said with an irritable sigh. He was just about to go back and sleep.

"Is it me, or is Sasuke called to Ozpin more than anybody we know?" Yang pointed out.

The young leader nodded. "He did say he was a special case, so it really shouldn't be a surprise," she said, her sister nodding.

"Special like his abs?"

"Yes, exa- Hold on! I in no way said abs!" Ruby said, crossing her arms in a cross, thought mostly to hide her face.

"But you're thinking it."

"No I wasn't!"

"You are now."

"I woul- Yang, I'm- Now look here-!" Whether Ruby would've finished that sentence or not was up for debate as she was found in a bear-crushing hug.

"Don't worry, little sister, people can't help it," Yang stated playfully as she brought her sister closer to her chest.

The blonde's statement wasn't appreciated by her younger sister, who pushed away for a breath, and slumped her shoulders in defeat. "Let's just go," she grumbled out as she began to walk away from her team and the ninja, all while mumbling about older sisters and their habits.

The blonde laughed a bit before turning to the last Uchiha and saying, "you can find us at the library when we get back from Vale, see ya." Then she walked away with her two comrades, both of which gave their own 'goodbyes' to Sasuke. One with a small glare, and the other in silence.

With that slightly disturbing event that somehow included his abdominal muscles out of the way, Sasuke turned and started towards Ozpin's office, wondering what the man could possibly want with him this time. Perhaps a better source of discussion.

* * *

"Sasuke, may I introduce you to General Ironwood of Atlas," Ozpin introduced his fellow headmaster.

James raised a brow when his comrade used the Uchiha's first name, but didn't comment about it. He turned to the teen and bowed his head slightly. "I've heard many things about you from Ozpin," the general stated, which was true. The skills his friend said the Uchiha possessed were more than impressive; being capable of utilizing his lightning-like Aura and clones was an interesting combination of capabilities to have. "I would like to say that I was the one who asked your headmaster to bring you here."

While he didn't show it, the ninja tensed slightly. Just after he had assisted in stealing Atlesian secret weapons, a general from the same kingdom called him to an office that held two very seasoned Huntsmen.

"It's about Gaara," began the Beacon headmaster, which didn't help the Uchiha's tenseness. "Do you know of him?"

Sasuke frowned. If they knew who he was, then this mind game they were playing at was irritating. "I only know as much as team RWBY and the news tell me," he replied calmly, but was prepared for any action that may come his way.

The two hunters looked to each other before the headmaster of Beacon prepared a screen to display something. "We have reason to believe that Gaara might have come from the same place as you," Ozpin said as he tapped a few buttons on his Scroll.

The Uchiha held back his sigh of relief at the revelation of why he was called in. His cover was still good, but he did wonder how they came to such a correct conclusion; even though he was certain it wasn't in the way they wanted. "And why would you say that?" he asked them.

Instead of answering, they had the display light up and show him the beginning of the shinobi's fight with Weiss from long ago. After a moment Ozpin paused just when Sasuke struck Weiss' back, and shrank to the corner of the display. A second video popped up, this time showing 'Gaara' fighting Sun and Blake. Waiting again for the right moment, Ozpin paused the second recording, then had the first stilled video become equal in size and propped itself parallel to the docks fight.

"Do you understand now?" Ironwood asked with a hint of accusation, but didn't wait for an answer. "If not, then observe as I close in on the image." True to his word, both images began to expand on the same item they had similar: focusing on the kunai. "How about now?"

The Uchiha nodded. "Yes, I understand. You believe that because Gaara uses the same knife I do, he may come from outside the kingdom, possibly from the same place as me," he replied dryly.

It was the general's turn to frown at the ninja's tone. "And do you have any information on this man?" he asked. James wanted to find the person who stole his Paladins. It was unwanted news to hear Winter's report that the White Fang stole the mechs with assistance from Gaara, who had shown off more abilities they hadn't recorded from him before. In fact, James was worried that Gaara could be disguised in the very room he was in; how right he unknowingly was.

The Rinnegan master sighed. "He might, but I have no way to confirm if he indeed is," he blatantly lied.

"You're style of knife hasn't been seen anywhere else. I only noticed this recently while reviewing the videos that we have caught about Gaara. Only you and him have that exact type of weapon as far as we know on Remnant," Ozpin stated. "Sasuke, we need to find Gaara, he's causing a panic amongst the people, which in turn is raising Grimm attacks on our borders." He paused for breath. "We're holding out well enough since the alarm has died down, but we're concerned that this may just be the beginning." Indeed, the panic was minor compared to what it used to be, and that resulted to a controlled combat scenario on the edges of Vale, but that didn't mean they weren't losing people.

The shinobi pursed his lips. "Even so, the area I was raised in was vast, I can't be expected to know everyone whose lived where I am from."

"Ozpin has informed me of what you told him about your home. A secretive village destroyed by war, hidden even now from us. You said nothing of great important, so I need ask of you, can you tell us more in order to stop Gaara?" Ironwood asked hastily. Any information would be useful against this enigma.

Now the Rinnegan master thinned his lips, careful on what to say. They already concluded that he and Gaara were from the same place due to the use of kunai. If the former avenger stayed quiet on this, it might seem he was holding out a secret against them; which he was. He might as well give them crumbs. "I'm from the village named Konoha, I can't tell you where it is because even I don't know, my travel to Beacon was mostly wandering in any direction," he stated vaguely. "Our people and warriors were no different than yours, but we survived living in nature, blending in to hide from Grimm and those who'd do us arm, mainly from other similar villages nearby, as we'd done for hundreds of years, or so I'm told," he added ending bitterly.

Now that was interesting to the headmasters. As far as they could tell, people outside the kingdom didn't survive long, and to know a whole village was protected from Grimm for so many years was nothing short of a miracle. Ozpin knew better, however, that if the people in it were resilient and powerful, considering the Uchiha and maybe Gaara, it should be possible. But there was something else the ninja said that had caught his interest.

"You said 'or so I'm told', could you elaborate?" Ozpin questioned. Sasuke said before how he'd try debunking theories about his village before expanding on it further, perhaps he found something. And from that tone, he must have.

Sasuke turned to the Vale headmaster and answered, "I found nothing about even a hint of my village in any books I found in Vale. At this point, I'm nearly convinced that the village was one-hundred-years-old at best." Both the general and Ozpin looked eagerly at him to continue, and so he did, the story was meant to be told. "I say a hundred years because that was at the time of the Great War."

"What does that mean?" the Atlesian asked with a frown similar to the ninja's. "Are you implying that the war was the reason your village was created."

"It's possible. Due to the village elders being dead, I can't confirm," the teen irritably told the general. "Each of our hidden villages lived near or on a Dust deposit, and I find it ridiculous that it would still have resources for _hundreds_ of years as we were told as children." He sighed, adding his weariness to help upset his mood more than it was. "The only reasonable explanation would be that the hidden villages were deserters of army's and towns during the war, banding together to stay as far away from the kingdoms due to their decisions in making the war happen. Hence why we never heard of you, because we were meant to forget you."

James found this especially interesting, but let out an exasperated sigh. "And with the hidden villages torn asunder, we can't confirm your theory." Sasuke nodded. "Mr. Uchiha, I will tell you that we do believe you and Gaara come from the same place, if perhaps not the same village itself. What more can you tell us? Warrior culture, anything even akin to it would help greatly."

The Uchiha shook his head. "I was barely out of the academy defending my homeland when we were raided by Grimm, hence why I cannot say much," he said. "The only thing I know is that everyone is expected to either be a soldier or a miner, each playing an extremely valuable part for the village. Often there are great warriors, and they are the ones who end up as the future leader, and they are the most famous even to rival villages."

Ozpin blinked in surprise at that. "So it was a form of military junta."

"Exactly. Our enemies were Grimm and neighboring villages, warriors were needed at the helm," Sasuke replied with a nod. "You're either a warrior, or you supplied the warriors. We lived among nature, hiding from it all when it all ended, we needed fighters with resources to fight, but it clearly wasn't enough. Resources were dwindling, and the only other source was killing the neighboring village to take it, and so we all tried, but all failed fatally." Another sigh to punctuate his fib

The Uchiha didn't want to admit it, but his weariness was catching up, so hopefully it only showed as a kind of despair for the village he 'lost'. The lie made sure to emphasize the hidden villages could never be found, nor even hinted when villages asked of them, and it will serve its purpose.

He rubbed the weariness off his face. "Pardon, I haven't been getting much sleep after formulating my theory. Is it possible to continue this conversation later?" he asked. It was mostly for his tiredness, and when compiled with this situation he was thrust into, some sleep sounded mesmerizing.

Ozpin looked to his friend for confirmation who shook his head, then turned back to his pseudo-student. "That would be all for now, Mr. Uchiha, you may leave to rest," he said, but just before he turned, he added. "And Sasuke, thank you for sharing all of that. I'm sure it will help us in finding Gaara."

Sasuke nodded back to the headmaster and left through the office's elevator, and gave a hefty sigh once inside. _'I need to rest for a while,'_ the Rinnegan master thought with a new goal in mind. He already had enough of Beacon for one day, and it had only just started.

Walking down the hallway, he noticed how they were fairly empty this time around. Sasuke assumed that most of the students were either sleeping in or they were out in the capital. While there were still a few students walking around; none of them wore the Beacon uniform.

The ninja found a seat near a grassy plaza of the academy and decided to unwind a bit. The shinobi sat down, leaned back, and looked straight up to watch the birds, knowing full well that they were much smaller versions of what he was fighting several hours prior.

Even though they weren't crows, they resembled them quite well, these little Nevermores that fought for humanity's extinction. _'I wonder if this is what Jūgo feels when he does this,'_ the former avenger pondered while his unease from earlier slowly faded away. Sasuke watched the birds fly around, but none of them came close to him like they would with Jūgo.

"How odd of you to wear those clothes when you're free from classes," Sasuke heard a woman's voice from in front of him, outside his field of vision. When he looked to the source, he didn't just see one person, but three. "Beacon's students certainly do things differently," an amber-eyed woman with black hair said with a slight smirk.

The frown that left him earlier had come back. "What I wear is none of your concern," the last Uchiha told her irritably. "Go away." He had just started to truly unwind and relax, but the intrusion of the three ruined it. The Rinnegan master looked back up to the sky, blatantly ignoring the newcomers.

"Well, aren't you cocky," he heard the only male of them say unamusedly, who then turned to the mint-haired one. "You sure this is the Sasuke Uchiha that everyone's talking about?"

The woman with the darker skin shrugged. "Hey, I asked around and they all pointed towards this guy," she retorted as she pointed her thumb to the raven-haired teen.

Sasuke took a deep calming breath and looked back to the three nuisances. "Didn't I tell you to go away?" he asked rhetorically in annoyance, considering going back to his dorm. It was probably a better idea to relax in his room, anyway. Bird watching was clearly a skill Jūgo possessed that the Uchiha didn't.

"Perhaps we started on the wrong foot," the amber eyed one said as she looked to the other two, who backed off with a meek 'sorry' from both of them. The Uchiha raised a brow at that reaction, usually seen from underlings who either feared or respected their leader. He had been in the company of Orochimaru long enough to know.

The woman with the black hair turned back to the ninja and stated in an innocent voice, "we were just looking around for the one who walks along the champion of Mistral as her friend, and simply _had_ to meet him." He didn't know why for sure, but he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end after she finished speaking; that innocent voice was disconcerting.

"What do you want?" he shifted his sitting posture to a more ready position. Their uniforms indicated that these were students from the Haven academy that resided in Mistral, perhaps they were sore that their champion was so close to him so easily.

The, seemingly, leader of the trio gave him a good long look, before her smirk grew. "I simply wanted to see what you looked like," she answered innocently enough. "I heard great things about you, and had to see for myself who Sasuke Uchiha really was."

Frowning at that statement, Sasuke stood up. Looking to the woman's eyes he ordered, "you saw me, now leave." The way she spoke, stood, and acted had the ninja uneasy. The less she was in the same vicinity as he was, the better.

The amber-eyed woman's smirk dropped noticeably at the Uchiha's response. The woman was about to say something, but her male teammate spoke before she could. "You have one hell of an attitude," he said in displeasure, and looked to his leader. "Maybe we found the wrong one, Cinder. This guy doesn't seem all tha-"

"Quiet," the now-named Cinder ordered her comrade in muffled anger. The man clamped his mouth shut at her look before she had even uttered the demand. Turning back to the Uchiha, Cinder spoke in slight irritation on how things had gone, "I saw what I wanted. We'll leave you be for now." That was when she began to walk away, her two underlings wordlessly following her.

Both minions turned their heads and gave the shinobi a glower, but he ignored them in favor of looking at the woman walking ahead of them in a confident strut. He narrowed his eyes at the woman, then shook his head slightly. _'I may have actually found someone who made feel like I was in the presence of Orochimaru,'_ he thought with a tired sigh.

Instead of continuing to sit down and watch the black birds, the last Uchiha walked back to his room, eager to lock everything of Remnant out and sleep the day away. When he was walking back, he began to notice that of the students remaining at Beacon, there were some that wore completely different uniforms, while others wore their casual wardrobe.

"Hey, Uchiha," he heard a familiar voice greet him from his side. Hoping that the mantra of 'ignore it and it will go away' would take effect, Sasuke continued on his way. "What? No 'hello' or anything?"

"Tired," he told her truthfully, forgoing his previous plan to ignore her. "What is it this time, Adel? I thought we had an agreement."

The fashionista looked miffed but explained herself, "I didn't follow you, I just _ran_ into you; that doesn't count."

"Then what do you want?" he asked monotonously. Sasuke admitted to himself that her company wasn't unwelcome, at least, compared to those Mistral students that had just left. He still would rather go and sleep, though.

Coco huffed at his attitude, but knew it was just part of his character. "Well, I want to know if you're going to join the tournament," she asked him. "It's team event, so I'm not sure if they'd allow you, but I figured I'd ask anyway."

Now that had the ninja look up in thought about the upcoming event, before putting his attention back to the team leader to answer, "I won't be joining, since I'm not a student of Beacon and thus not in a team." He didn't intend to take part, but there were other factors that stopped his acceptance to the event.

"Yeah, I heard you weren't a student, but maybe you could still join with your clones," Adel stated. His clones were corporeal, and even held a certain amount of sentience. It was possible that he would count as a special case.

Sasuke shook his head and explained to his temporary company, "regardless, I never intended to join. So it doesn't matter if I was accepted or otherwise." If an Atlas specialist couldn't beat him, he doubted a few students could either.

She huffed again. "You're just afraid I'd kick your ass," Coco said to get a rise out of him. That and she wanted to see what the teen could do on the battlefield.

Coco raised an eyebrow when he scoffed, and frowned lightly when the Uchiha said, "you're not that strong, Adel." He had seen that she and her team had their own fan following around Vale because they were strong in their own right, but the shinobi was something else entirely.

"Oh? What would I have to do to be strong enough to win against you?" she asked with a growing grin.

 _'Seal a massive Chakra entity within yourself,'_ he thought with mild amusement. "I'll be leaving you here, it seems your team are looking for you."

The fashionista had a look of confusion strike her face. "Huh? How would yo-"

"Coco! We were looking everywhere for you," Adel heard Yatsuhashi's voice behind her, and turned to find the three members of her team. "What were you doing when we should have been training?" The trio weren't exactly pleased that she skipped out when it was so close to the festival.

The sunglasses wearing woman took a step back, and began explaining, "hey guys, I was just talking to Sasuke for a bit, that's all." It wasn't that she didn't want to train, it was just that she really wanted to find the ninja and ask him a question. She went as far as to wait for an opportunity to 'run' into him.

The three looked around themselves, before Velvet asked a little eagerly, "where is he?"

She gave her Faunus teammate an odd look. "Are you blind? He's right here," Coco said in befuddlement, then turned to look at the empty space where the ninja had just been standing. "That sneaky little. . ."

* * *

After waking up fully rejuvenated the next morning, the ninja found out that he had absolutely nothing to do until classes started up again or another assignment came up. Sasuke wondered what he could do until things went back to their normal routine, but that was before Roman called, saying something about making an appearance for the possible new recruits.

It was almost amusing watching him go into a rant when Sasuke asked to be paid for such a simple task, one that Roman was tempted to simply ignore. But alas, Sasuke gave 'Gaara' a reputation that could be used to show how the White Fang weren't to be taken lightly.

If they were going to use him, even if it was as simple as standing there, the Rinnegan master would get payed an appropriate amount. He only asked for a large trunk of Dust, after all. Should be more reasonable than an entire freight container, right? Asking for ridiculously massive amounts of Dust the entire time wouldn't do well if the Uchiha still wanted to be employed. He was still being overpriced, according to Torchwick.

Sasuke stood in his room, clad in his now-clean shinobi garb, thankful that cleaning methods were fast and efficient on Remnant compared to his world. The Beacon uniform was simply thrown in the drawer, hopefully never to be seen again. _'Never again,'_ he thought with finality about wearing something made from such uncomfortable cloth.

It was fairly into the afternoon after Sasuke rested the day away, so he was refreshed and ready to leave. Just as he stepped out of his room, the shinobi started hearing a small commotion from his neighbors, where team RWBY resided. He ignored the noise, but the door opened to reveal Ruby dragging Weiss along with her. "What are you doing?" the ninja asked the both of them before they took another step away.

Ruby stopped moving when she heard the Uchiha, the same time he noticed them wearing a different wardrobe from what he usually saw them in. What he saw that was cause for concern, however, was that they both carried their weapons. Sasuke heard they were training more and more recently, they went as far as making team moves; perhaps that was why they were combat ready.

Weiss finally broke free from her leader, and stood up straight after she dusted herself off. Turning to the ninja with crossed arms she answered him haughtily, "nothing that includes you, that's for sure."

"Well, maybe he could help out, he's pretty much the best in Beacon," Ruby tried reasoning with her teammate, before she jumped back a little with a small 'eep!' at the glare she was given by the heiress. "O-Or, you know, we could handle it ourselves."

Schnee huffed in agreement to the last statement. She still didn't like the Uchiha's attitude, but was glad that he wasn't like Yang who boasted about everything. If Sasuke bragged like the blonde did, that would truly have been unbearable for the heiress.

"I will ask again: what are you two doing?" the shinobi repeated, irritation increasing from Weiss's responses.

Fully facing him, Weiss stated with a scowl, "and I will say again: it's none of your business." She didn't wait for his response, grabbing her leader by the collar and dragging _her_ away. "C'mon Ruby, let's get going."

"Sorry, Sasuke, maybe next time!" Rose yelled as she waved him goodbye until they turned the corner and out of sight.

He took a deep breath and thought, _'I have more important things than to watch over trainees.'_ Indeed, the former avenger had a meeting with Roman and his group so he could make an appearance at the White Fang rally. Supposedly, he would be the face of the seriousness of their capabilities, how the new monster of Remnant was on the side of revolution.

Sasuke scoffed at the notion Roman had given him. He wasn't working _with_ the insurgents, he was working _for_ the insurgents. If he wasn't getting paid, he wouldn't have even considered them; in the end, he was a mercenary regardless of what world.

He sighed softly and continued his way, even closing team RWBY's door as he walked past it. Sasuke made his way out of the dorm rooms, ignoring everything and everybody that passed him. _'I am to be used as a symbol of White Fang effectiveness,'_ he mentally recalled his job description for the assignment.

Further thought had to stop as he reached the courtyard near the bullhead pads. But that wasn't why he stopped his musings, it was because the amber-eyed woman from earlier stood in his path. She was without her two teammates this time around, 'Cinder' was her name if he recalled correctly.

"What do you want now?" Sasuke asked the smirking woman irritably before attempting to walk around her. "I don't have time for conversing." Technically, the Uchiha had plenty of time, he just didn't want to, especially with her.

Cinder stepped in front of him, blocking his way once more. "I just wanted us to have a better conversation since our last one didn't go so well, Sasuke," she said with confidence.

Now she was grating the Uchiha's nerves. "I'm not interested, now move," he demanded as he tried again to walk around her.

Cinder's smirk dropped. "A few seconds is all I ask for, Uchiha." She closed her eyes when she felt a wave of air hit her face as the ninja flickered away from her. She blinked a few times to see that the ninja had disappeared, which caused her grin to resurface. "Interesting."

Inside the bullhead that lifted off recently, sat the shinobi who had escaped the eerie woman. He didn't dwell too much on the thought of her, as it simply unsettled him.

 _'That woman is trouble,'_ Sasuke mentally concluded. He didn't know why exactly, but everything she did caused alarms to go off in the mercenary's mind. The aura she exuded was not pleasant in the least.

Upon landing, he noticed that the woman from before had irked the ninja so badly, he didn't feel unwell while flying in the bullhead; she took complete control of his discomfort. The former avenger shook his head to rid away any more thoughts and to focus on the task at hand.

He went into an alleyway a while later, creating a clone to walk around before it went back to Beacon. Sasuke then leapt from the building tops to reach where the gathering would take place. The usual ninja misdirection and subterfuge; it was almost muscle memory at that point.

It was a tad more difficult than usual, however, since Atlesian troops were everywhere in the capital. More than once he had to hide from a passing aircraft that may or may not have caught him; Sasuke couldn't risk it. Fortunately, the human troops seemed to be fairly lax. The robots, however, were attentive as always. Thankfully, the Sharingan helped him catch these things before they worked against him.

The way to the rally took a bit more effort than usual to reach, but Sasuke, of course, got there, ready to take on his latest assignment. Looking around, he realized it must have been early since there wasn't a single Faunus in sight. The insurgents themselves were probably inside preparing everything that was needed for the upcoming event.

The Rinnegan master walked through a side door of the warehouse, and immediately noticed how things were vastly different from the last time he was there. The stage had been completed and held a Paladin behind a large cloth that had the White Fang symbol, and the many containers that littered the area were pushed aside or taken elsewhere.

Sasuke found Roman standing on stage with Neo by his side, staring at the tarp that was hiding the mech. Occasionally, he looked downward and mumbled something that the ninja couldn't hear. If he had to guess, it was the rallying speech to bring in more recruits that the smoker would probably ignore and improvise later on.

"Roman," the mercenary called out to the thief, who turned around and immediately became aggravated at the sight of his caller. "When will the people assemble?"

That irritated the Torchwick. "What!? You aren't even going to explain me passing out all of a sudden!?" he exclaimed. "One moment, I was asking you how you made the Dust disappear, then I wake up half-an-hour later." That time frame sounded about right with the Sharingan technique Sasuke had used. "And now you just come here and ignore what happened?" He slumped his shoulders forward and panted after his rant.

"Feel better?" Neopolitan condescendingly asked her colleague as she patted his back, but he quickly understood her tone.

"Don't patronize me," Torchwick snapped back, which only amused the petite woman even further. He turned back to the ninja they had hired. "Just go sit in a corner at the back until I call for you," he ordered irritably, Sasuke deciding to indulge the command to keep Roman from ranting further.

Just as he was told, Sasuke walked behind the recently erected curtain. He looked at the Paladin as he walked, noting how it was now marked with the red White Fang logo. Along with 'Gaara' in their group, the large war machine would stand as symbol of how the revolutionaries would achieve equality: through the new demon of Remnant, and the latest weapon made by Atlas. Either was terrifying by itself, together even the most experienced hunter would tremble.

Evening fell quick as Sasuke was told to wait with the Atlas mech behind the large curtain. When the time was right, the impersonator would be introduced to the gathering Faunus, and would show exactly how serious the insurgents were. If they weren't getting their rights fast enough through peace, then the only solution that would be shown was force.

The moment Sasuke heard that the rally would begin soon, he transformed into the redheaded Kazekage, before simply waiting for the appropriate time. Oddly enough, Roman and Neo joined him, waiting for the right moment as well. Torchwick because he was going to be introduced, and Neopolitan because she was human.

The multi-colored woman looked at the Uchiha and gave him a grin. "Glad to see you again, Gaara," she greeted the disguised ninja, who nodded back as a response.

Commotion grew as a large group of people could be heard conversing with each other on the other side of the tarp. The Faunus were gathering en masse in the former base of operations, ready to hear what these revolutionaries had to say or show, and if they were willing to join such a righteous cause.

"Fellow Faunus, gather close," the shinobi heard the Lieutenant's accented voice from the other side of the curtain. "Before we begin, I need to introduce a special person who has helped us in taking what we need."

Roman smirked, believing full well that he had done that indeed, and stepped out to face the crowd. He was greeted with jeers and confusion for a human taking part in such an event, and Neo stepped out with him and stood to the side. Humans were now shown to be a part of this, so there was no need to hide herself.

"Thank you for such a wonderful introduction Lieutenant," Torchwick mockingly expressed his gratitude, then turned to the crowd of bestial people. "I will admit that I truly did help this wondrous revolution." Sasuke couldn't help but scoff at his words. "How did I help? Well, it wasn't easy, but I had some good underlings. Isn't that right, Gaara?"

The warehouse suddenly became deathly silent at the name. They all knew about Gaara's reputation, but never did they imagine he would be in the same place as them. 'Gaara' stepped out, immediately drawing several fearful gasps and whispers of 'demon' and 'monster' from the unsuspecting Faunus. He stood beside Neo silently with crossed arms and merely watched how things went from there.

Even the White Fang members present were uncomfortable with his existence being so close. Two members of the crowd were especially surprised that they would find him so soon.

"Now now, he won't bite," Roman stated to the crowd, uncaring if the mercenary did actually harm them. "You see, our dear friend Gaara here helped us in. . . _acquiring_ a new tool to get rid of those pesky humans." That was when the curtain was dropped and revealed the Atlesian Paladin with their mark of revolution. The crowd slowly erupted into cheers at the sight of the mech.

The smoker continued, "If you want to join the cause, know that several of your brothers have been moved to the southeast, but if you want to stay in Vale, that's fine. However, if you do sign up, this is the equipment you will be fighting with." He then pointed to the disguised teal-eyed mercenary with his cane. "And with the support of someone rather powerful, if I do say so."

The cheers grew as a higher ranked Faunus took the stage. "New recruits move forward to sign up," he bellowed to the new members eagerly moving forward to join.

Roman grinned at the evident success before noticing someone in the crowd that wasn't supposed to be there. Sasuke frowned as he noticed his employer's upset face. "What is it, Torchwick?" he asked in Gaara's voice as he followed his line of sight and saw exactly what had disgruntled the thief, then scowled heavily.

 _'Damn it,'_ the shinobi cursed mentally at the sight of Blake and Sun, just as they made eye contact with him as well. He couldn't believe that those two st- Sun waved with a sheepish smile to the demon of Remnant. 'Gaara' facepalmed at the Naruto-esque action the blonde Faunus made, and that was the opening Belladonna needed to shoot the fuse box that caused a blackout within the building.

Sasuke sighed when he heard glass shattering to his side, already beyond annoyed with the situation. The Uchiha activated his Rinnegan, the left eye glowing purple in the darkness. When he looked to his colleagues, he spotted Roman diving into the recently acquired bot.

"You intend to chase them across Vale within that?" 'Gaara' asked the smoker. Did he not understand the importance of subtlety? "You can't be serious."

Just as the canopy was closing, Roman gave the merc a glare. "I'm deadly serious," he stated in annoyance. "Those brats have interfered with my work for the last time." And with that, Roman charged through the building, breaking through the wall to give chase.

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke turned to Neo, who sighed at Roman's actions. "I suppose I'm the one who should get him?" he asked her rhetorically, knowing what the answer was.

She nodded in response, "I'll catch up to you later," the petite woman stated in reassurance. More so to see how he was going to deal with the pests than anything else.

'Gaara' walked out through the new opening and ran to find Roman, wanting to stop the crime lord before he did something regretful. It wasn't all that hard, he simply had to follow the trail of destruction. The Paladin must have been fast, because he couldn't hear the massive machines echoing stomps, or any thing that linked to it.

His body flicker technique had been seen when he was Sasuke, so he couldn't use it. Especially with cameras all around to catch sight of and link it back to him. If he was indeed Gaara, and had sand at his dispersal, then that would have been something he could work with. Regardless, the ninja was already catching up to Roman and the two hunters-in-training, if the cars that were tossed around on the freeway were anything to go by.

That was when the Rinnegan master finally heard sounds of fighting, then something metallic shatter. He noticed a shattered bridge barrier and peered with his Rinnegan down below, and saw how Roman was dusting himself off within the slightly misty area. However, it was Yang who was running towards him that caught his attention. He couldn't have the man that paid him get injured just yet.

He risked a body flicker, and appeared in front of Roman with his arm raised towards Xiao Long, who widened her red eyes in surprise. " **Shinra Tensei,** " 'Gaara' said dryly, and that was enough as the blonde shot backward.

" _Whew_ , glad you got here just in time," Torchwick said in relief.

The ninja looked to the thief briefly, then took in his surroundings before turning back to his employer. "Why is the Paladin destroyed?" he asked unamusedly.

"Ah, well you see," began the thief embarrassedly. He couldn't tell him that he fought in a giant war machine against a student and lost. "I don't want to talk about it."

Shaking his head at the foolish smoker, he turned back to his opponents. He was immediately aggravated to see all of team RWBY present and standing there. Three of them were, anyway. "Just stand back, Roman. I'll deal with them."

Ruby had her knees shaking at the sight of the redheaded ninja. She hugged her scythe, her teeth were chattering, and she was on the brink of tears. She was afrai- No, she was _terrified_ of Gaara. She had been handling things better since the last time she ran into him, but now all those memories resurfaced. The pain of having been impaled, the blood that profusely left her body to form a puddle underneath her. Just seeing the man was like going through the pain all over again.

" **GAARA!** " Yang shouted in cold fury, running towards the one who had stabbed her younger sister. Again, she was thrown back even farther than before from whatever 'semblance' the demon used.

The young leader grit her teeth and held her scythe shakily, but couldn't stop her knees from quaking. She heard the redhead coldly say to her, "I will give you the chance to retreat. If you do not, I will do more than run you through." Ruby didn't want to think what could have been worse.

She gulped again in hesitance, and noticed her two other teammates never letting their eyes waver from Gaara. Weiss stood ready, but even she had her legs shaking slightly. Blake was there in angry determination, but her eyes showed the fear of what could happen. Yang ran again at Gaara with an angry howl, but failed miserably once more. He was playing with them, showing them how feeble they were. What were the two waiting for?

That was when it hit her. They were waiting for their leader. Her sister was running on emotion, she wasn't one to wait standing. "G-Guys," she began when determination slowly crept back to her. Knowing well that her team depended on her, just as she depended on them. The two turned to their leader with expectant eyes. "I. . . I think I have a plan."

Back to the ninja, he wasn't enjoying this show of force. Yang kept running at him in blind fury, and he would shoot her back to the pillar behind her, but she wouldn't give up and try again. _'Too similar to Naruto,'_ he thought with a frown. He saw from the way they stood shakily before, they were going to give up. _'Why are you still standing there!? Retreat!'_ he mentally shouted with a scowl, their forms obscured by the remaining mist.

He suddenly heard Ruby shout in her fear, "Freezer Burn!" Things immediately went to hell after that.

The floor he was standing on became coated with ice, Sasuke flowing his Chakra to his feet in order not to slip. "Whatever it is you're planning, it won't work," he yelled angrily. The Uchiha noticed that Yang didn't come attack him again like previously. The blonde jumped into the air and slammed her flaming fist into the iced up floor, intensifying the mist heavily.

'Gaara' scowled fiercely at the increased mist. While the Rinnegan could see things as clear as ever, and even have people's energy work against them, it didn't work on obstructions like walls, smoke. . . and mist. He swiveled around, waiting for anyone to make a single sound to pinpoint them out.

Alas, the sound that came wasn't what he wanted: gunshots. From sound alone he had to dodge their trajectory. The last time he fought against guns was at Beacon, when he used his Sharingan to see the bullets move slower, and his opponents telegraph where they were shooting. It was easy to block blazingly fast bullets when he saw where the guns were pointed at.

He stepped backward and sideways to avoid the fury of deadly rounds that came from nearly all sides, and brought his Chakra Rod blade out to block those he couldn't, but by a very narrow margin. If it wasn't for the sound, it would have been far too difficult, and possibly several would have hit him.

One of the sources of gunshots stopped, to the relief of the mercenary, but now he had two sources directly from sides shooting him. _'Fools!'_ he mentally exclaimed, and pointed each arm towards the opponents hidden by the mist, and waited for a shot to fire to dodge then bring them in.

The chance came as Sasuke moved slightly forward to avoid the bullets. " **Banshō Ten -**" Before Sasuke could react, he was struck in the center of his chest with a round that coated his entire body up to his neck in ice, _'How could I le-'_ he stopped his thoughts when he noticed there were no more shots being fired, but there was a yell from Yang. Sasuke hadn't even noticed Ruby shouting 'Bumblebee!'.

The furious blonde brawler swung from Blake's Gambol Shroud while sped up with Glyphs to his side, she even saw Gaara widen his eyes at the sight of her. " **GRAH!** " she shouted in hatred as she punched him across the face, sending him flying from his icy prison.

Sasuke blacked out for a moment from the amount of force behind Xiao Long's punch, but he quickly regained clarity and noticed he was flying through the air, and righted himself in time to land on his feet then skid to a stop. He glared heavily and scowled just as hard when he looked at team RWBY, the mist finally lessening. All four members of RWBY were shocked at the sight of him.

"Sasuke!?"


	11. Never Can It Be Cheated

**.**

 **Chapter 11  
**

 **I forgot how big this AN used to be. I'll make my reasoning quickly explained. No Sharingan = No unnaturally quick reflexes (Canon info). Rennigan doesn't see through mist (Canon info). The point of a trap is to win against enemies that are stronger and faster than you (Reality), combined with the fact that Sasuke's taking it easy on them out of underestimation.**

 **When facing a single enemy, the more allies you have and work well with, your fighting power is not multiplied, but _squared_ with each person (One more you have, is one less the enemy has. It effects _both_ sides of the fight). Sasuke doesn't have Aura, which is a force field that's mostly passive, he can bleed like the rest of us, besides a few tricks that he has.**

 **Bloated explanation done. I don't believe I'm making anyone weaker just because some of you think Sasuke would win any fight from simply air-humping towards the enemy.**

* * *

 **Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue; Here, I Wrote A Chapter For You!**

* * *

 **Chapter Eleven: Never Can It Be Cheated**

Sasuke set his jaw back into place with an audible pop. _'I underestimated them,'_ he thought with self-disappointment. If he hadn't reflexively pumped his head full of Chakra to strengthen it, Yang might have actually killed him. Thankfully, his Rinnegan spotted the violent fluctuations in her Aura just in time to notice that it was _not_ just another regular punch in the least.

"Sasuke, you can't be working with Torchwick! You can't be!" Ruby pleaded loudly, still unbelieving that her friend was working with the thief.

The ninja was about to respond, but he heard Roman's order interrupt him, "Sasuke, Just finish them off!" His disguise was ruined, there was no point for the thief to use the alias in his eyes. "I think it's best that I don't stay out here any longer." The Uchiha could probably handle a small army of police and Huntsmen if his previous experience was anything to go by. But Roman, not so much.

"Be quiet, Roman," the revealed ninja ordered his employer, all without breaking eye contact with the young leader. "I said that I'd handle this." He could use Genjutsu to have them forget, which would buy him some time, but that wasn't the real issue.

Looking around, _all_ the cameras in the area were pointed towards him. Sasuke wasn't just being recorded, he was being _watched_ since the beginning. The debacle had been televised before his disguise was even dispelled. He had known it was only a matter of time before his fragile disguise would be broken, but he had hoped to have some control over the situation when it came.

Seemed like Ozpin and his comrade were adamant on capturing the redheaded Kazekage, but got more than they thought with their new attentive discipline to surveillance cameras all over Vale.

"What do you think you're doing, Uchiha!?" Weiss yelled angrily, sword raised to strike. Her legs were no longer shaking from the killing intent he was giving off before he was struck. "You would work with that criminal over us?"

"You're damn right he's working with me," the smoker added smugly. "Do you kids have any idea how expensive hiring him w-" Roman was suddenly cut off as he collapsed, unconscious. Since he seemed incapable of shutting up, the Konoha-nin helped him sleep with his Sharingan.

Becoming more aggravated, Yang started connecting certain dots. "So you were employed by them to do mercenary work," she stated with rising anger. Her hair was sparking as flames began to erupt. "Is that what he was saying, Uchiha?"

Thinning his lips, Sasuke nodded lightly.

"So you were paid to stab my sister, is that right?" Wide eyed realizations went all around the other members of team RWBY. It wasn't simply Gaara that did the deed, it was Sasuke that impaled Ruby. The very person they were hanging out with since the beginning of their first semester. And even after the docks fight as though everything was normal.

This time he didn't nod, but he didn't give any excuses, either. He was paid to handle whatever opposition that came up, that included students who came to hinder the heist. The Uchiha knew that he would do it again if it was required of him.

"I'm giving you four an opportunity to leave," he told them with a frown. The ninja summoned his blade from the storage seal, and placed the sheathed blade in its proper place. He never wanted the situation to get this far. "Now I am telling you again to turn back before you force my hand."

Schnee, Belladonna, and Xiao Long began shaking in rage. The betrayal they felt at that moment was truly incomprehensible. Their friend was the one stealing the Dust, their friend had used the White Fang with Roman, and their friend had stabbed Ruby. The Uchiha could only be considered as one thing by those three after those events: An enemy.

"Why did you do it!?" cried Ruby. "I thought we were friends!" The very person who saved her on their first meeting was also responsible for all those nightmares. All that pain was from someone she trusted.

 _'Friends. . .'_ That was the keyword for the ninja. He closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and said, " I have no choice, for my friends are waiting for me elsewhere." He opened his eyes and revealed the Rinnegan active in his left eye, and his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan in the other. _'I won't underestimate them again, no more playing games.'_

He wouldn't make himself seem weak in front of his employers, especially since they might be watching at that very moment. Considering that fact, the Konoha-nin added something for them as he looked to one of the cameras. "And I will get the Dust I require."

He flickered behind the distressed Ruby and hit her to the back of the head with an electrical hand chop. She only let out a quick gasp before she succumbed to the darkness. _'One down, three to go_ _,_ _'_ He thought.

Blake was the first to react, and angrily brought Gambol Shroud in pistol form to the side of his head. Sasuke remained unmoving, he didn't dodge because he didn't need to. When the Faunus pulled the trigger, he replaced himself with Weiss, who had her head whip to the side from the round. Her Aura shields were the only reason she wasn't, basically, executed by her own comrade.

The blonde member of RWBY was easily the most enraged at the revelation, and had shot several explosive rounds at the traitor's new position. "You played us!" Sasuke jumped left to avoid the explosion. "You nearly killed Ruby!" He jumped back this time to avoid the next shot, but that only served as cover as a red-eyed Yang shot through the smoke with a punch. " **Now it's your turn!** "

He bent backwards and let her fist fly over him. The Rinnegan master waited for just the right moment to kick her midsection, sending her high into the air with her breath knocked out of her. Blake attempted to shoot his position, but he quickly leapt into the air, right under Yang.

Righting his position to take out the brawler, Sasuke shouted, " **Lion's Barrage!** " He then pummeled her with an augmented three-strike combo, each one bringing her closer to the ground until she was slammed with an axe kick to her solar plexus, before Sasuke leapt off of the last kick to stand.

He now stood over the blonde, who was gasping and coughing for air that had been taken from her lungs due to the last hit. He looked to his last two opponents, who were just staring at him after the blow to Yang. Sasuke let out a small sigh and slowly walked towards them with a hint of killing intent. Belladonna was gripping her pistol tightly, baring her teeth in anger. Weiss recovered from the shot to her head, and stood ready to attack. Neither of them moved an inch, however.

Blake hadn't shot at the ninja in fear of hitting her teammate while they were in the air, but she couldn't help but believe it may have been a better choice than watching helplessly as her comrade was taken down. Now, she watched the assailant take out his sword from its sheath and point it towards them.

Weiss wasn't that different from her Faunus teammate. Hitting a moving target in the air was a difficult task, especially when a friend was at risk of being hit. She still had Myrtenaster ready, but that didn't stop the knot in her gut when she saw the man who had easily taken down their tank approach them.

"You're last attack that hit me will be the last to touch me," the former avenger stated impassively. "From this point onward, none of your attacks will reach." His secret was out, so there was no point in hiding his Sharingan.

 _'Why couldn't you have learned?'_ Regardless of the ninja's demeanor, he never wanted to harm them like this. But he was fighting for something that he considered more important than students that wanted to play hero. Everyone that was important to him was waiting for him to get back.

Sasuke heard coughing from behind, and turned to see Yang slowly get to her feet, cradling her broken rib cage. "I'm not done yet, bastard," Xiao Long seethed out tiredly. "You still gotta' pay for what you've done." She reared her fist back and pumped another round into the breach. Her Aura shields held up valiantly enough, but that last kick broke more than one bone.

He sheathed Kusanagi and aimed his palm towards her. "You should have stayed down, Naruto," he told her, immediately biting down on his own tongue for the slip. He jumped to the side to avoid the large energy slash and bolts that came from the two behind him. The other members of RWBY found new determination when the brawler got back up, running over to Yang.

Yang was kept standing from help by Weiss, and Blake had set Ruby down after she carried her over to them. The Uchiha merely watched them fumble for success that could not be reached. He didn't bother to attack them though, lost in thought due to his mistaken words from previously.

 _'I can't be comparing my world with Remnant.'_ This wasn't the time for homesickness to control the Uchiha. "Do you now understand that you cannot win?" he called out neutrally, which got him the angry eyes of the conscious members of team RWBY. "Do yourselves a favor and retreat. I grow tired of fighting mere students." He blocked a shot from the Faunus with his trusted sword.

Police sirens could now be heard by the shinobi, which meant that they heard it. The team had found a new goal to reach.

Smirking, the blonde went back into a shaky boxing stance. "We don't have to win, we just have to keep you here until the police and Huntsmen arrive," she said mockingly. Xiao Long's arms felt heavy, and it hurt every time she moved. But she would do her damn best to keep that bastard there for a few more minutes. Schnee and Belladonna supported her by raising their weapons to fight him one more time.

Yang whispered to the heiress, " _Freezer Burn._ " It shocked the white-haired teammate that Xiao Long would have the stamina for one more shot, but understood how effective it was last time. They needed to hinder those special eyes of Sasuke's. Everything changed when his eyes transformed, it was without a doubt they weren't cosmetic, but of function.

The former avenger watched as Weiss stabbed her rapier to the ground which coated it with ice once more. He shook his head, wondering how they intended to use the pattern he had already seen. Sasuke decided to let them perform the trick, he needed to crush their will, and would do it right after they felt hope.

He allowed the brawler to slam both her flaming fists to the ice, which brought out the familiar heavy mist that was going to cover the area. He could see the massive cloud of mist heading towards him, with the remnants of RWBY within it to once again try to attack him.

Sasuke immediately went into seals, then took a deep breath and shouted, " **Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!** " He whipped his head in a single slashing motion, and the gale that came out was anything but pleasant. A large wave of wind came forth and hit the oncoming cloud, and struck those within it. It even rapidly dispersed the cloud in all directions when it exploded upon contact.

He heard the feminine shrieks when the wind went into the mist, and when it dispersed, he saw how the three were either whipped to the floor or the pillar behind them. If they weren't out for the count, then they were too injured to stand to fight again.

Blake attempted to get on all fours to get back up, but fell back to the floor exhausted and in pain. She looked to the traitor in frustration. "I don't care how you're able to do these things. I won't let you get away with what you've done to us," she growled out as she panted. "This _isn't_ over, Uchiha."

Sasuke stared at her silently for a moment longer before he turned away. The mercenary walked back to Roman, hefting the man over his shoulder before contacting Neo for a pick up. Funnily enough, it didn't take but a few seconds for the aircraft to appear just overhead.

He looked back to what he had done before entering the bullhead, which started to fly back towards the southeastern base. Sasuke's coal black eyes saw how Belladonna was slowly slipping to unconsciousness, how Yang and Weiss were in a heap of their own, and how Ruby was out long before he had beat her team down.

Sighing the Uchiha turned and spotted Neo smiling away. "How long have you been here?" the Konoha-nin asked her irritably. She clearly was nearby and simply waited for him to finish them off.

"Since the beginning. It was interesting watching your disguise go _poof_ ," the petite woman told him casua- "Gah!" she gasped when she was slammed to the back of the bullhead cabin with Sasuke's hand around her throat, squeezing it slightly.

He leaned in close to make sure she heard everything, even tightening his grip to ensure she couldn't breathe easy. "If there's a next time, it would be best for you to not to dawdle," the Uchiha seethed. If Neo had intervened sooner, perhaps things wouldn't have gone down the way they had. "Do you understand?" She gave a small strained nod, then was dropped to the ground coughing.

Now he was fully dependent on Roman's group. Said criminal was still under the illusion and passed out from his Genjutsu. Sasuke didn't care however, the fool had talked too much about things that shouldn't have been voiced.

"Where are we going?" Sasuke asked the recovering umbrella wielder, who rubbed her neck from the discomfort.

Uchiha raised a brow when she started pouting, which was odd considering what happened a few seconds ago. Neopolitan answered, "we're headed to Mount Glenn. That's where our new base of operations is in." She then folded her arms and turned away as to not look at him. "You didn't have to choke me, you know. You only needed to ask." Regardless, she had a video to upload at Cinder's very recent request.

Frowning at that 'innocent' statement, he turned to look out the cabin window, and saw Vale slowly getting smaller. _'It's too late to turn back now.'_

* * *

The next afternoon, Ozpin was in a calm and orderly form of frustration. That tended to happen when they realized that the person they were housing for a long time was the very person they were hunting.

"This is unacceptable!" shouted Ironwood as he paced the Vale headmaster's office. "That vagabond not only used you, Ozpin, but was also working with Torchwick. How do we know he hasn't done anything to Beacon during his stay?"

That very thought had crossed the headmaster's mind more than once. When he had the traitor's room investigated, they discovered a few odd things. Nothing outside of that room was tampered with, however. He must have had all of Beacon checked several times over, and more still to come.

One, Sasuke was in the room once they had gone to investigate it. When Glynda attempted to arrest him, he exploded into a cloud of smoke on his own accord. _'That explains how he was here when the Paladins were being stolen,'_ Ozpin thought with no small amount of distaste.

The clones were the alibi, to show where the Uchiha was when he actually wasn't. To think he could keep the clones active for possibly days, it was no small feat. The Aura required must have been quite costly, which said much about the teen's Aura reserves. Which made the situation even more dire for losing such a fighter to the other side.

Secondly, was the odd marks on the wooden floor boards. The scratches were in a spiral form, as though there was a sizable snake was present before. The headmaster had no idea what the story of that was, but couldn't think of anything other than that Sasuke had a snake in his room. How he brought one in without anybody noticing was anybody's guess. Unless it was scratched out by the boy himself for whatever reason.

Thirdly, and most intriguing, was the door. Strange marks were etched onto the door itself, and lit up when they were touched. This was most peculiar as nothing similar was heard of to this, other than archaic Dust empowerment methods, but not a trace of the substance was found.

Oobleck investigated the etchings while it was still connected to the frame. Why was it still in its original place? Because the damn thing would _not_ come off. Granted, they might be able to pry it out with a bit more force, but Barty insisted that the reason for those markings were to be used while in its proper place. So his testings for their purpose would be more accurate with it being on-site.

"What did Bartholomew find about the. . . the door?" James awkwardly asked. A question he never thought he'd have to voice out.

Nodding back, Ozpin picked up the slip of paper that detailed a few things. "Professor Oobleck isn't done with the testing, but he did give me a few of his findings," he began, which brought his colleague to listen attentively. "Apparently, the door has achieved a massive durability boost. Which explains why it wouldn't budge."

Ironwood tilted his head in confusion. "So those markings made that slab of wood invulnerable? You can't be serious."

"Barty said it received a _boost_ ," clarified the headmaster. "After he added more force, the door began to bend. So it's not indestructible, it just has a much higher tolerance than the average 'slab of wood'. Oobleck hasn't the slightest idea how those markings made such a thing possible. Without a steady supply of Dust, at least."

The general nodded in understanding and asked, "any other details?"

He brought up the paper again to read the second note. "The last detail he gave me was that it made the room completely sound proof," the silver-haired man stated, and saw that it raised the brow of his colleague. "That's right. Oobleck was inside watching the marking glow, then asked Peter if it lit up on the other side as well. Peter insisted he couldn't hear a thing from the room when that door was closed."

James massaged his temples. He couldn't believe how a bunch of scribbles could have so much of an effect. He could only wonder what more would be discovered when Bartholomew finished his examinations.

"What are we going to do, Ozpin? On top of those markings, you've seen what he's capable of," the Atlesian said seriously.

He had shown Ozpin the video that caught Sasuke posing as a multitude of people while infiltrating the base that held his Paladins, along with the abilities he had shown while fighting Winter. It was difficult finding the odd one out, but they eventually found the trail, how he was able to enter the compound was still a mystery, though. While the Uchiha's secret was out, they had no idea how they could detect someone who could transform into others.

Ozpin frowned, there was so much promise in him. Sasuke even stopped visiting the library long ago, and never mentioned about leaving Beacon. The thought of how he was instead out there working with Roman was not a pleasant.

"He'll come up in one way or another, James," the headmaster said tiredly with a sigh. "For now, all we can do is wait for him to show up once more."

Ironwood grit his teeth in frustration. What Ozpin said was true, the former student had gone into hiding with his cohorts and were nowhere to be found. Until either new information was found or the criminals show themselves, they couldn't do anything about them.

However, there was still one question in the general's mind. "And what of your students? The ones that fought him."

"Team RWBY is. . . 'healing' from their encounter," he replied with displeasure. When they were brought in, they were worse for wear. Not just physically, either.

James nodded back as a response. He doubted it was easy to find out that one of your friends was an international criminal, especially in the way they had. Taiyang's elder daughter and the Faunus certainly seemed to be the most aggravated of the bunch.

Pursing his lips the general said, "the way he fought them. . . This isn't normal, Oz." Which got him a nod. "Being able to utilize wind and fire like that, along with earth and lightning from the initiation video, with all we've seen 'Gaara' do, that's something else. His movements were like an experienced fighter's, and those eyes cannot be counted as a superficial change anymore." He didn't need to hear from Blake to deduce that.

Once his eye changed to a purple color, certain abilities were shown. When his other eye turned red, his reflexes were among the best that could be. When he saw that the three of team RWBY used mist once more to hinder his eyes, he thought it was an ideal strategy, but that was before Sasuke shot a wave of wind from his mouth. It was clear why they lost, it was because Uchiha had a variety of techniques never known to be used by a single person.

The headmaster closed his eyes, leaning back as he looked up to the ceiling. "All this time, I thought he was merely a boy who needed direction in this new world we live in," he stated. "But clearly I was mistaken. He was a man who had already experienced possibly years of deadly combat and survived. A dangerous man to oppose."

"You couldn't have known," James said with a shake of his head, trying to comfort his friend and colleague. "He fooled us all, Oz. You can't say a teen would have turned out like that. We have no idea what else he's been lying about."

Looking back to his friend, the green man gave a thankful nod. "But the brunt of those lies went to someone else. Four girls to be exact." He could only hope that team RWBY would get out of this together.

As for that very team, they had recovered quite well from their fight with Sasuke, the man who they thought was their friend. Physically, they were fine, it didn't take long to heal from the blunt trauma they had received from the encounter. Yang still wasn't fully healed and laying flat on her bed, a shattered rib cage required more time to mend, but was well on her way to recovery.

Weiss had a hairline fracture on her rib, but that had already finished healing. She almost suffered a concussion from Belladonna's shot to her Aura shield, death was the other alternative if the defense hadn't been in place.

As for the Faunus, the only real strike that hit her was the wind technique the traitor had used, which broke through her shields first before it hit the other two. That allowed her to fly a good distance, which fractured her legs upon hitting the ground at quite a speed. That wasn't far from a full recovery, though.

Ruby Rose, however, had no injuries other than the headache she woke up with. Now, she saw that her team was physically fine, but mentally was another matter entirely.

All four of them sat on their own beds, no one saying a word. Hugging her knees on her own bed, Ruby kept trying to think of the reason her savior had betrayed them. _'My friends are waiting for me elsewhere,'_ she kept repeating Sasuke's words over and over in her mind, trying to understand his reasoning.

"He made Roman pass out, but to shut him up, not a way a friend does, right?" Rose mumbled for excuses. "He did help Velvet out when she was being bullied by Cardin, but ignored the other times it happened to others, so I don't think he would have joined the White Fang. But why does he want Dust from them?"

In the bed below sat Weiss Schnee who was gritting her teeth. She was fully able to hear her leader make excuses for the inexcusable, and was a breath away from reprimanding Ruby. _'Does she not realize what he's done!?'_ she mentally exclaimed.

The heiress knew that Rose was a person who considered friendship to be a big deal, considering how difficult it was when she first started. A tad naive maybe, but she was only fifteen-years-old; a child by all accounts. This time, however, was not something that childhood innocence could excuse _who_ she was trying to defend.

"Are you done!?" the Atlesian shouted angrily from below her partner, who was startled by the outburst. "It's clear that he was working for Roman. He was _paid_ to do what he did." She proceeded to stomp out of her bed and make her way to the door, but not before she turned with an upset look to her leader. "He ran a sword through you, Ruby. Don't make excuses for someone who isn't worth it." That was when she stepped out for some fresh air.

Blake and Yang, who were recovering on their own beds, looked to their leader for an explanation to what had just happened. Both of them did not like the implications that were said by the heiress. Ruby could not be making excuses for him, right?

"What was she talking about, Rubes?" the blonde asked with narrowed eyes. She loved her sister, she wouldn't be pissed otherwise.

The red girl hugged her knees tighter and teared up in frustration. "I just. . . I just want to understand." Wiping her eyes a bit, she said, "Sasuke said that he needs Dust and he had no choice. You've seen how strong he is, whatever it is he needs, it can't be easy."

Belladonna scowled. "You shouldn't listen to him, Ruby. He's nothing but a liar. All that Dust is probably just for himself," she said heatedly. Was the one who was hurt most by the bastard honestly trying to defend him? After all they'd been through, Sasuke betrayed them without a second thought. "Forget everything he told you. Weiss was right, he isn't worth the thought."

After what he had done, the Faunus member of RWBY swore that she would get her revenge. She left her former group because they were being guided by malicious leaders for a lie. Now, in an environment different from her old one, one of the people she thought she could trust in her own way stabbed them in the back. It brought back a few memories she didn't want to relive.

"You can't be serio- _Ack!_ " Xiao Long attempted to bolt up to a sitting position, but her topless bandaged torso could only take her so far without flaring up in pain; which brought her back down. After a light cough or two, she looked to her younger sister with a frown. "You can't seriously be thinking of Sasuke as a friend. After all he did?"

Ruby looked away from her sister, who was a small reminder of what the Uchiha had done, then looked to Blake who had her legs in a splint. The ninja had done some considerable damage to the team. Thankfully, nothing was permanent.

Shaking her head from anymore thoughts, she turned to her older sibling. "I just want to understand," the red girl clarified again. "He saved me during initiation. I. . . I don't want to believe that he did what he did just because he was told to." At that last statement, she clutched her midsection, where her scar resided.

Ruby would never forget the pain of having been impaled, but she had plenty of fond memories with him. Granted, he had to be roped in on most of them, and other times he was just a silent observer, but never could she have guessed he would intend to do them harm. He had even gone out of his way to help them, on certain occasions.

"Then believe this- _Hng!_ " Yang said as she painfully sat up, but never letting her sight break from her sister. "He was _paid_ to steal, he was _paid_ to beat us down, and he was _**paid**_ to nearly kill you. That's what I believe, and that's going to get him a beat down from me when I see him again." Her eyes flickered to red at the memory.

When she and Neptune visited Junior for some information about Torchwick, she got more than she expected. Apparently, 'Gaara' met Xiong a while before the heist at the shipyard, and kept his mouth shut about it. Until Yang punched his teeth in for staying quiet for so long.

The information the blonde got was simple. Roman asked for a letter to be delivered that carried an address to the redhead, which turned out to be where Blake was checking with Wukong, and was hired from there on out. Junior may have given the impersonator the message, but that didn't mean he hadn't looked into it first before sealing it back up.

After some tense and silent seconds, Ruby's Scroll began to ring. She put it on speaker and found it was Weiss that was calling her. The three of them heard her say in a concerned voice, " _g_ _uys, I just found out that Pyrrha is unconscious at the infirmary._ " Just when they thought the past twenty-four hours couldn't get any worse.

"Wait, what!?" the young leader nearly shouted. "Hold on, what are you talking about?"

Rose could almost hear the heiress sigh irritably. " _It's as I said,_ " she said a tad condescendingly before going back to her usual voice. " _Look, all I know is that people in the hallways are talking about how Jaune carried a passed out Pyrrha to the infirmary. I'm headed there right now, you should too._ "

"Yeah alright, we'll be there soon," Ruby replied quickly, and was about to close the line, but Schnee had something else to say.

" _That's not all, Ruby,_ " Weiss stated. " _You guys might want to check what they're saying on the news._ " That was when the call was cut.

The Faunus furrowed her brows, and was the first to take out her Scroll to find out what the heiress meant. Expanding it to full size, she checked the current TV feed with the volume loud enough for all to hear.

"- _ank you Cyril, what I found out is indeed very troubling. A video that was uploaded online has been receiving viral attention. It's a video of the illusive Gaara in action fighting against other Beacon students,_ " Lisa Lavender stated professionally.

Team RWBY, without the W, looked to each other in surprise at what they heard. "You don't think. . ." Yang began. "The headmaster couldn't have let them."

Belladonna swallowed hard, but nodded. There was a reason Ozpin asked them to keep quiet about the event. Alas, keeping quiet about a rampaging robot that tore through the streets, causing havoc on the roads while also stomping its loud body could only keep certain people quiet. It didn't help that it was a prototype weapon made by Atlas that hadn't been distributed yet.

" _But that isn't all that it shows. It seems that Gaara wasn't exactly who we thought._ " That started to set off some alarms for the three of them. " _The man who we thought of as Gaara, the new criminal of Remnant, turned out to be none other than Sasuke Uchiha. Sasuke Uchiha was, until recently, a trial student of Beacon. How he's capable of transforming into other people and still have different abilities is unknown, but-_ " Blake broke her Scroll in half in frustration. Unwilling to hear of what they already know, coupled with the fact it was never meant to be out in the open.

"Those idiots!" the Faunus shouted after she threw her device to the nearest wall, shattering both halves. She didn't just mean the reporters being fools, but also those that uploaded a video to the net. "It's as if they _want_ Grimm to attack!"

To consider that a very dangerous person may have walked by you at some point was not a pleasant thought to have, especially if you were a simple civilian who lived safely. In addition, the fact he walked amongst the young defenders of Remnant for so long wasn't good news for many parents.

Ozpin specifically asked them to stay silent so they could handle it before it was reported. Now someone had uploaded a video of their fight; their beat down and all.

Gulping, the leader looked to her two comrades, but one was more displeased than the other. The elder sister, while upset, didn't mind the attention Sasuke was given. The more people out there that knew about the ninja, the better the chances of someone finding him for her.

"I can't believe this!" Belladonna yelled. She then grit her teeth a bit before taking in a deep breath to calm herself. "Let's just check on Pyrrha, okay? Anything to get my mind off of this." The sisters nodded in response; Yang not so dejectedly in comparison to Ruby.

Blake tried to get up, but fell back to her bed with a yelp of pain. She growled angrily at her busted legs and said irritably, "I don't think I'm allowed to move just yet." Then looked to the bandaged older sibling. "I don't think you can either."

The blonde huffed, then grunted from pain as she laid back down. Doctor's orders were to stay in bed until notified otherwise anyway. She'd be sure to ask her sister about their friend's condition when she returned.

"I guess I'm going to see Pyrrha then, okay?" Ruby informed her team. The other two girls nodded in understanding, as Ruby turned and walked out.

Upon exiting, she walked down the hallway to find the infirmary, but she noticed something odd. When the young leader entered a more populated area, she immediately had the eyes of the student body on her; visitors and local.

It seemed the video had been viewed by nearly everyone. Ruby swallowed nervously at the amount of attention she was given, and sped up the pace to reach Pyrrha. She assumed that Weiss had been given a similar experience. Although, she might have been more accustomed than the scythe wielder.

She reached the infirmary and quickly entered it, simply to avoid the pitying eyes of the people surrounding her. Rose gave a relieved sigh and walked forward to find the room Pyrrha was occupying. It helped that Schnee was there and waving for her attention outside the intended destination.

"Over here!" the heiress half-yelled. When her leader came closer with a disgruntled face, she asked, "I assume you noticed how everyone was looking at you?" Rose nodded, which had Weiss purse her lips. "It was the same with me. They could at least try to be subtle." She was used to being the center of attention on a number of occasions, but those pitying looks they gave her had led her to bite down on her tongue before she said something regretful.

Schnee shook her head. "Jaune, Nora, and Ren are inside with Pyrrha," she informed, then noticed that Ruby was about to ask a question, but interrupted her. "Before you ask. No, they don't know why she passed out; I asked them." Rose closed her mouth and let her continue. "They told me that she was watching something on her Scroll. Pyrrha suddenly said something about a headache before collapsing then and there."

The young leader tilted her head in confusion. "Headaches cause people to pass out?"

She shrugged back as a response. "I guess so. Let's check up on them," Weiss said as she pointed towards the door behind her.

With a nod, Ruby knocked on the door of the room, and heard Jaune grant them entry. She opened a door and saw the champion still unconscious in her uniform while the rest of her team surrounded her, but thankfully her body was intact this time around.

Looking around, the captain and members seem concerned for their redheaded teammate. "Hey, guys," Ruby greeted quietly, then looked to the patient. Nikos didn't look like she was in pain, in fact, it seemed more like she was just sound asleep. "How is she?"

The leader of team JNPR beckoned them to come in, which they followed and closed the door behind them. "We don't really know," he told them honestly. "One moment she was fine, just watching a video, then the next second she just passes out."

None of the three would forget how she had fallen merely seconds after complaining about a migraine. She wouldn't wake up regardless of what they did. In the end, the leader picked up his teammate and took her to the infirmary. The doctor that came by was competent enough, but she said that she couldn't find anything wrong with Pyrrha and that she may simply need some rest.

"What was she watching?" Weiss asked curiously. "That might be the reason why she's like this." Not exactly a thought she would voice, but there weren't any other clues to what may have caused it.

The trio began to look uneasy at the question. "Err, she was watching your fight with Sasuke," Ren answered uncomfortably. No one in the room noticed the small reaction he got from his unconscious teammate.

Everyone else had similar thoughts to the heiress, so they decided to check her Scroll before they brought the redhead to the infirmary. Just as expected, they were greeted with the video of team RWBY's encounter with the Uchiha. "But it couldn't be because of this since we all watched it _way_ before this happened," Jaune defended.

Having heard about it from gossip emanating from students around them, Team JNPR had already searched the video, and were shocked to find that their black-haired friend had been Gaara. They weren't sure what to feel when he emerged victorious over the beat down team, but something clicked within Pyrrha when she saw his lavender left eye.

For the past few hours, she had been obsessed with the video, or more specifically, when Sasuke opened his eyelid to reveal the rippled eye. Something finally snapped after she viewed it several times, leading to her collapse.

Schnee began glaring at Arc. "Oh, and what made you want to watch Sasuke b-" She was cut off when Nikos' eyes snapped open at the name.

"Sasuke!" Pyrrha gasped as she awoke, unintentionally startling the occupants. Looking around at the familiar scene, she calmed herself down to an acceptable level.

How did she end up with a headache that caused her to pass out? It started when she saw Gaara with the purple eye active, Nikos had something gnawing on her mind, and even more so when Gaara turned to Sasuke.

"Pyrrha, you're okay!" screamed Nora happily, before giving her a bone crushing hug. The red-head was in the infirmary far too much to Valkyrie's liking.

The champion of Mistral winced as her bones creaked, until her eccentric friend finally let go and backed off with a smile. Pyrrha gave a relieved sigh, then turned to the other worried people in her room.

Jaune was the first to speak up. "Pyrrha, are you actually okay?" he asked in concern rather than conclude like Nora. If he hadn't seen her faint, he would have assumed she just woke up from a bad dream. Otherwise, she looked completely fine.

"And why did you wake up shouting 'Sasuke'?" Weiss added to the question.

In response, the redhead looked to her left arm in deep thought. "I remembered something," she answered simply, staring at her recovered arm. It was the same feeling when she woke up with it back in its place.

Tilting her head in confusion Weiss asked, "are you saying you passed out because you remembered?" Nikos nodded. "Well, what about why you called out the vagrant's name?"

The redhead scowled as she got out of bed, stood directly in front of the white-haired teen, and looking down at her with a glower. "Sasuke is **NOT** a vagrant," she said heatedly, which had taken aback her comrades. They weren't expecting her to wake up with a brand new attitude.

Mouth agape at the sudden action, Weiss's mind finally understood what had been said. "Wait, are you siding with him!?" she asked incredulously. Ruby was making naive excuses minutes prior, but now Pyrrha? None of this made sense to the heiress.

Frowning, Nikos understood what the Uchiha had done to them. She lessened her glare and began explaining, "I know what Sasuke did was unforgivable, but-"

"But what!?" Weiss shouted angrily, having gotten passed the champion's sudden defensive demeanor. "He's working with Torchwick, he stole from my family in bulk, and nearly killed Ruby. All while we called him our friend. There is no 'but' to be said." She took in a breath for one last push. "He is nothing but backstabbing trash."

That began the glaring contest between the two celebrities. The surrounding students were unsure of what to do, or what had even been the cause that lead it up to this point. Pyrrha understood that Sasuke had indeed done those things, and couldn't answer for them herself. To think, Weiss was doing what she could to team up with her when they met before initiation.

Pyrrha scowled before she took off her student blazer and started folding the shirt's left sleeve as high as it could go, all while she continued to glare at the heiress. Nikos then raised her bare arm for all to see.

What she said next, was the reason why the champion defended the Uchiha. "He gave me back my arm."

* * *

 **Pyrrha, you weren't the one who was supposed to lose an arm and regain it. I can't explain how I felt when I saw RWBY have things happen that I had already done.**

 **Trivia:**

 **1- I purposefully left out the previous after-story AN as to not hinder the impact of the cliffhanger. I hope I left you all literally hanging to nothing else that could soothe you.**

 **2- The alternative title for chapter 10 was 'The Plight Begins', but I wanted to stick with using quotes. The other alternative was the title for this chapter to reference fate, but I thought 'Hair Black As Ebony' was a better option to delude some to think it meant Cinder, when it actually meant Sasuke's reveal from red hair to black.**

 **3- The end of chapter 10 and the beginning of this chapter is why Sasuke can't be paired with anyone. That black mark is not something that could be ignored by the RWBY crew.**


	12. A Tree Which Bore Golden Apples

.

 **Chapter 12**

 **This AN used to be so massive that it passed 1K words. _Fuuuuuuuuuck_ that.**

* * *

 **The AN Was As Large As The Day Is Long; It Was Larger Than Listening To A Ten-Hour Song!**

* * *

 **Chapter Twelve: A Tree Which Bore Golden Apples**

'Gaara' stood inside one of the many Dust stores on the outskirts of a city on Solitas near Atlas he didn't bother learning the name of, watching as the clerk quickly and shakily placed his merchandise in the bag in front of him. The redhead looked around and saw that the six assistants provided to him were done with their own collection.

He took the heavy bag from the frightened store owner and put him to sleep using his Sharingan with his memories intact. "Let's move," Sasuke ordered in the Kazekage's voice as he walked over one of the many unconscious security guards littering the area to reach the front door. Once outside, he continued down the planned route and saw the many nameless civilians giving him and his group a wide berth. None wishing to be the target of the redhead, especially since law enforcement were nowhere to be found.

Alleyway after alleyway, every shortcut was taken till they reached their intended vehicle to take them away from the snowy area. This had been going on for weeks, Roman and his crew were adamant that Sasuke would be a part of the thefts across Remnant, all of which were successful as the thief put it.

They made sure his clones were put into use on the matter when information about his capabilities were released. Even better, they ordered him to go as Gaara, as that image was what frightened people more than the dashing outlaw that was Sasuke Uchiha. Indeed, that part of his secret was out, but Gaara remained the face of fear for the people of Remnant. And that was all they needed, a face that made things go smoother and made the fear rack up.

Sasuke could only guess what raising the fear level to allow Grimm attacks to grow on the border was for, but he didn't really care if those creatures attacked more often the usual on the walls of Vale and the other kingdoms. He had decent percentage to take on each theft, was slowly making his way to his goal amount, and that was enough for him.

He pulled out his Scroll and sent a message to the leading White Fang officer of the area to inform of another successful job, and vanished from existence in a puff of smoke, leaving the assistants to drive back to the forward operating base with the Dust and Scroll given to the ninja. The first time this happened, it was startling, but the White Fang members who came with him got used to it over the past few weeks.

Beneath the grounds of Mount Glenn sat the original Sasuke Uchiha in one of the vacant and ruined buildings alone, who was just hit with the memories from one of his clones out there. _'Another success,'_ he thought with a hint of boredom. They had to be careful which store to rob, as huntsmen could be watching and waiting for him to slip up. So they had scouts discreetly looking for anything unusual before a job.

Ironically, the more fear he caused, the less Huntsmen there were to watch the stores, as they would be on the borders fighting off the usual Grimm. So the more stores he robs while using his fearful persona, the easier the next heist was. It was as if every element of the mission worked to his advantage. It was becoming eerie from how smooth and easy it was.

Occasionally, he would send out the clones instead of himself as he stayed in the ruins of Mount Glenn. Simply because he heard something interesting on the radio a few White Fang members around him had. So he demanded for his own place complete with running water and electricity, with his own radio to keep track of what's happening that included him.

Apart from the tabloid gossip, it was amusing watching people start making far-from-reality explanations about him. One included that Sasuke was capable of taking people's image and Semblance after he absorbed the people themselves, which did sound plausible in a certain way.

But the news wasn't the only reason the ninja was listening in on the events.

Rumors had been going around of how the Uchiha had helped Pyrrha regain her arm, which in turn, allowed her to stay in Beacon with her friends. _'It was only a matter of time before the illusion's effect passed,'_ he thought to himself once he heard of the unfounded rumor. He assumed Ozpin was the reason they stayed as rumors.

He didn't know how tense the relationship between Pyrrha Nikos and the three of RWBY had become, while remaining members of their teams couldn't figure out how to handle the situation, but they were trying their best to keep things civil between them. On one hand, he helped Pyrrha recover without any evidence of alteration or even the hope of reward, while on the other, he committed a serious crime to each member of RWBY.

Sasuke stood up from his seat and made to leave the building, by jumping out the window of the highest floor of the building he resided in. The apartment building he chose didn't have any functional stairs, so it worked better for him if anybody wanted to try and invade his space the old fashioned way.

Upon landing soundlessly, he heard a familiar voice to his side. "Good morning, Sasuke," Neopolitan greeted cordially. "Are you ready for today's meeting?" She had picked up on his pattern of where he would usually land and occasionally would wait for him on certain days.

Oh, and she said she'd forgiven him for his unfriendly like behavior while they were on the bullhead. She even told him that he should have just let her known beforehand to help. She even said that friends forgave eachother for simple ignorance

Sasuke did _not_ want to hear that statement coming from her.

The ninja nodded, then began walking to their intended destination. "The faster we finish this, the better," he informed her. "Who am I meeting with this time?" He had been in the presence of a few higher ranked White Fang members from different areas of Remnant, to know how to plan with the clones he had given them.

Gaara had been spotted all over the Kingdoms at the same time, working with the insurgents to take Dust as fast as possible. No place was safe from the redheaded demon. He needed to be careful with the number of clones he could conjure, you never know when an experienced Huntsman may arrive to take down a fragile and weakened clone before its job was done.

"Oh, someone high up in the food chain," she informed him. " _Very_ high up in the food chain." Uchiha looked to her a little oddly at her tone, but didn't comment on it as he would find out soon enough.

On the way, they were greeted with salutes from surrounding Faunus, either from fear, respect, or excitement, many of them recognized the one and only Sasuke Uchiha, the man who helped their revolution move to new bounds, showed how serious these Faunus revolutionaries were. He didn't give them any attention back, however. Occasionally, he would give a nod or two back at most.

They were reaching the building in question, which was the train station that was located within the underground city. _'Even while they're in ruins, Remnant's architecture is still unmatched,'_ he thought when he first saw this decaying city. Iwagakure may have had their village within a strong mountain basin, but constructing within a hollow area within the ground for a large subterranean town was more than impressive.

"Is there anything new?" the Uchiha asked her. He didn't know how, but Neopolitan had a connection in Beacon, so he asked her for updates from time to time. In fact, it was from her that he knew about the rumors around Sasuke's assistance for the Mistral champion. And something about Dr. Oobleck's fascination about the door of his former lodging.

Also, how Bartholomew wept as the door exploded when he at one point tried scratching the seal for a sample. The only injury from that detonation was to his scientific pride.

With a shake of her head, she answered, "nothing new. As far as we know, everything is still pretty much the same." Cinder did not go out of her way to find information for one of her employees, it was _always_ the other way around. This was no different, but if she heard something they wanted during her stay, she might as well share it. But if someone above Cinder asked for something of her, however. . .

Salem would get it no matter what.

Sasuke nodded back, content with that response. He climbed the staircase with Neo by his side, passing White Fang officers from all around the kingdoms. He reached the door of the room for the meeting, and outside was the large Faunus the shinobi didn't like very much.

The Lieutenant didn't talk, merely looked at him, but without the vibe of irritation like usual. In fact, the Uchiha almost thought he was eager for the meeting.

"Are they ready?" Neo asked the large man. She knew what the answer was without his nod, because that was exactly why the Faunus seemed less irritable than usual. "Then let's get going."

Silently, he turned around, opened the door, entered the room, then he shut the door in their faces. The Faunus must have been waiting outside the door to do just that. "Mongrel," Neo said under her breath, to which the ninja agreed with. She stepped forward to open the door and entered the room, then looked back and waited for her companion.

It was odd to see Neo rather loyal to him in her own way, especially since Sasuke wasn't really sure what caused such affection. She always came off as a person with a somewhat childish mentality of someone who enjoyed the bloody side of life, a life he was born into but never really embraced. Not saying that he hadn't killed, but it wasn't the option Sasuke would decide to use at the drop of a hat.

He walked into the impromptu meeting room and saw the gathering of the officers he had seen before, with some new ones, and the usual thief extraordinaire, Roman Torchwick. But new officers weren't the only ones there. The room had nothing but a map on the wall in the back, a few boxes here and there, while the officers simply stood in a circle and conversed.

"So, this is the one I've been hearing about," began the tall newcomer in front of the map of Vale, before he gave him a quick look over and frowned. "I was expecting someone who looked. . . stronger."

The Uchiha quirked a brow at the unpleasant introduction. "And yet, I train your lackluster troops that you fail to keep at a decent fighting condition," he replied unamused.

Sasuke had been helping with the basic physical training of the White Fang new recruits and the occasional sword training exercises. He didn't like that the majority of those who came were women who only wanted to take a peek at his smokin' hot bod', as he heard them mention around the base almost constantly, but he withstood it for the extra pay.

There was a reason why he chose to live in a building without stairs.

"I'd watch what I was saying if I were you," the accented Lieutenant demanded angrily. "You're in the presence of the man who has led us to great heights."

Turning away from the large Faunus to look back to the new man, he didn't see much that could be noteworthy. A black outfit, the usual Grimm mask, and a sheathed sword that's red as the man's hair. "I'm not impressed," Sasuke informed plainly. He looked more like Bishōnen than he did as a military leader. "Perhaps that's why you needed my assistance for your cause."

One of the officers in the room tried to get things back on track and began addressing the red-headed swordsman, "sir, I th-" He snapped his mouth shut when the leader raised his hand to keep the officer quiet.

The new man scowled, then introduced himself proudly to the ninja, "I am Adam Taurus, I'm also one of those who are leading this revolution." Five seconds was all it took for him to. . . _dislike_ the mercenary. "I would love to continue this conversation later, but for now, I have a job I need done from you. That is, if you feel you are adequate for the task."

It was Sasuke's turn to scowl. He had been on missions since he was twelve, including the return of a princess who posed as an actress back to her village to rule it; a counter coupe d'état. This 'Adam Taurus' really had no idea who he was talking to. "Then inform me, what's this job you yourself aren't _adequate_ enough to do?" he asked condescendingly, which brought a glaring contest into play.

At least, Sasuke assumed Adam was glaring under the mask he was wearing, if his fierce scowl and growling meant anything. Also, the officers and Roman began shifting away from the redheaded leader's exuding aura, other than Neo who was watching silently with eagerness for the events to move further.

After a few seconds of angry staring, the leader broke the silence as he said, "I want you to bring me someone important."

"You want me to kidnap someone? How odd that someone of your power can't do it without my help," he said with a hint of vehemence. He knew that he was possibly the best within the White Fang payroll to do such a task, but Adam's tone from before wasn't appreciated in the least.

"No, not kidnapping," the swordsman clarified loudly. "I want you to bring back someone who shouldn't have left."

 _'Ah, deserters.'_ That made him think of Tucson. Sasuke wondered how the clerk was doing, probably was still in hiding within Vacuo. Lessening his visible irritation, he said, "then give me the name, so I can be sure to be paid justly when I deliver him." A shame, he was thinking of how high the pricing for the head of the Schnee family could go.

Working with money-thieving mercenaries was never something Adam would have chosen. Such people had no idea how to fight for a righteous cause. With a frown, he said, "Blake Belladonna."

Only a single dry thought crossed the ninja's mind when he heard the name. _'Fuck.'_

The Lieutenant certainly perked up at the familiar name, as did a few other White Fang members around them. They just figured then why Adam personally came to Mount Glenn; to ask this mercenary to bring _her_ back. Roman and Neo didn't know the name, but the only other human certainly did, and the Faunus leader in front of him knew that.

"You were with Blake and her team during your lengthy time at Beacon from what I hear, which means you know _exactly_ how to approach her and get her back to me," Adam said neutrally, but a certain emotion could be detected. "And I want you to get her for me." He definitely didn't make it sound like it would be a pleasant reunion.

Sasuke frowned as he stated, "you want me to leave for Beacon while they are searching far and wide for me within the city?" While that was certainly one of the reasons he didn't want to kidnap Blake, he didn't feel that handing her to Adam would be a painless process for her. "The price will be as high as the risk I'm taking. Three Dust freight container's worth."

Seeing Roman's eyes bulge as he screamed out a disbelieving 'WHAT!?' almost made coming here worthwhile, but that was overshadowed by the task he would rather avoid.

"That's acceptable," the Faunus leader answered far too quickly. If it meant showing what he did to the likes of her, he would pay any price.

The Uchiha really hoped Adam wouldn't have accepted the steep price. "And if I refuse to take such a _dangerous_ task?" he countered with emphasis on the right word. It wasn't dangerous as much as it was difficult, but they didn't need to know that if he wanted a way to indirectly opt out. Sasuke made a reputation, and would rather keep it for as long as it remains useful while he was on Remnant.

"Then we better find someone who wouldn't cower in the face of a little danger," Adam replied heatedly. If this human wouldn't listen to orders, then they will find a capable Faunus that would. "If you don't do this job, then consider yourself unemployed." It wasn't in his power to do so, but Adam would do his damn best for that or similar to happen.

Blake was in sight, and they had a person capable of bypassing Beacon's and Vale's security. He was far from pleased when that very person wanted to avoid his actual job. If they were paying, they would get their worth. Otherwise, goodbye. Besides, Cinder might do him a favor and get Blake for him. As unlikely as that sounded.

Considering his options, the shinobi either followed this person's orders and get Blake into a situation that's unpleasant by the looks of it, or he refuses and risks his steady supply of fantastic Dust because this zealot wanted some teenage girl. It was either Blake or a quicker way home.

Sasuke pursed his lips at the unpleasant options, but answered, " _fine_ , but be sure to have my payment ready when I get back." Petty theft level of procurement would take far too long to gather the Dust necessary.

"Finally grew some backbone?" mocked the Faunus leader with a venomous grin. "Best you leave and ready yourself, the bullhead is being prepared as we speak." He then turned to Neo. "I wish to speak to you about someone." The petite woman nodded and took a seat on top of one the crates.

Uchiha didn't stay in the room another moment as he immediately left the meeting room to work on a way to get his objective. _'I will not prolong my time in this world for a mere girl.'_ Sasuke couldn't help but feel a certain emotion strike him when he thought that. All he knew was that it _wasn't_ excitement.

The Rinnegan master marched by the other White Fang insurgents who gave salutes, but he paid them no heed. He was far too into thinking that Sasuke almost missed the orange-haired thief pull up beside him and keeping pace as they exited the building.

"You're just joking about the three containers, right?" Roman asked almost pleadingly as he walked. "Because there's no way you could spend all that Dust even with a lifetime of using it." That included on top of what the mercenary was usually getting paid with. If done properly, he could be among the richest teens in Remnant.

Alas, none of the Dust he was paid with were on Remnant anymore.

"Why does it matter to you, Roman?" Sasuke asked as he walked to the bullhead waiting for him. "The more Dust I take from your group, the more they would need you to procure more." His mission began as soon as the bullhead was ready for him, and they hadn't given him the usual few minutes to gather his things. Which were only the clothes on his back and the sword that was already in his possession.

The thief shook his head. "You think it's that easy? These guys want the Dust your taking, but apparently _someone_ wants you more."

 _'Nothing new,'_ Sasuke thought with morbid amusement. "Regardless, I have accepted the mission and its pay." It didn't feel right to do this, but being a shinobi meant doing things like this. For the sake of what's important. "Just be sure to have the Dust ready when I return."

It might take a few days since the difficult part about committing a crime wasn't the process of doing it, but getting away with it. Considering the level of security from the fear Sasuke had racked up, it may prove a hindrance, but he would accomplish it regardless.

"Yeah yeah, I get it," Roman said as he slumped his shoulders in defeat. "The super mercenary will get his monumental amount of precious Dust, otherwise, a psycho pipsqueak would probably have my ass."

Apparently, Neo would often remind Torchwick to pay the ninja his due when he started getting stingy from the Uchiha's pricing; as ordered by their employer. In her own Neo way, of course.

Sasuke stepped onto the bullhead's door frame then looked to Roman. "I would suggest running, but I doubt it would do you any good," he informed the thief casually before he closed bullhead's door as it began lifting off.

Tilting his head in confusion, the thief began to wonder why he would need to r- "I'm a pipsqueak, am I?" He froze at the very familiar voice. And when he turned around, Roman saw someone he wished wasn't there.

"Sasuke was right, it wouldn't do you any good to run, but I'll wait ten seconds anyway," Neo said with a growing grin as she slowly pulled her sword out of her parasol. "Run, little smoker, run."

* * *

"You must be joking," Sasuke dryly told the White Fang member, who was wearing casual clothes, that secretly led him to a safe house within Vale, or more specifically, Tucson's Book Trade store. " _This_ is the base of operations I'll be using?"

The revolutionary nodded. "It's perfect," he began. "As far as people could tell, this place's a bookstore that's being refurbished, so no one gives it a second glance or enter, and it's close enough to Beacon," he said in a soldier's tone. "What's the problem with it, sir?"

Other than that Sasuke thought fate was being tacky, using this place was indeed a fine choice. The place was fixed up from the damages he had seen when he healed the former owner, and it was cleaned from the filth, other than the few boxes here and there to give the image that the place was still not complete for anybody too curious.

"Never mind," the Uchiha said with no amusement whatsoever. He turned to the officer that led him here. "This will do fine. You may take your squad and leave. I will be doing this job without White Fang assistance." The shinobi didn't need a dozen troops in their casual wardrobe to babysit him.

The soldier thinned his lips. "Actually, sir," he began once more. "We were ordered to remain with you until you succeed." He was also told to stay until he failed, but he left that part out.

With a withering glare, the ninja said, "you will leave, _**now**_." It was satisfying to see the Uchiha-patented glare work on rookie peons without the need of killing intent. Although, he did put a touch of it to speed up the process.

"Y-Yes, sir," was what the insurgent probably said in his haste as he ran to the back room and tell the others. The poor man didn't even salute his hired superior.

' _I will do things my way,'_ Sasuke thought with finality as he stood back within the darkened store area, hearing the familiar stomps of people leaving through the back exit. _'An operation such as this needs as few people as pos-'_ He stopped thinking when Sasuke heard of a pair of steps emanate from the room where the White Fang member ran to. The Uchiha frowned at that.

Sure enough, someone crossed the repaired door frame, and that person was a woman around the height of Blake, but that was all they had in common as the new woman possessed short antlers. Brown straight hair that reached her shoulders, eyes a dark brown color behind her round glasses, and a light tan to her skin. Her clothes were what the ninja assumed to be the casuals she had, a fitting yellow half-sleeved top, black cargo pants with yellow accents, and black shoes to match; rather plain, but perfect for discretion.

A small feeling of familiarity struck him when the Uchiha saw her, but that was neither here nor there. "I ordered all to leave," Sasuke clarified unpleasantly to the woman. "I have no need for regular grunts. Take your leave immediately."

The woman pursed her lips, as though insulted. "I'm not a regular grunt, sir," she stated in the same soldier's tone as her comrade, but slightly more offended. "I'm the computer technician assigned for this operation."

Nothing more irritating than peons who don't listen. "Regardless, I have no need for your skills," Sasuke stated. What would he need her for? He was only walking into a heavily fortified building filled to the brim with a diverse amount of warriors. He had done so before several times.

Although, they weren't exactly keeping a diligent eye out for him at the time.

Sasuke gave another touch of killing intent to the woman, who flinched at the sudden wave. Even with the extra sweating and shakier legs than before, the woman stood her ground. She never tore her eyes away from the mercenary, either out of instinct to never let your sight away from a predator or willpower, the Uchiha wasn't sure.

 _'A veteran?'_ the Uchiha assumed mentally. She didn't look that much older than the ninja; ten years his senior at most. "I've seen you before, haven't I?" When he stopped the flow of killing intent, the woman almost dropped to her knees from relief.

"W-What was that!?" she asked while staring worriedly at the mercenary.

Shaking his head, the shinobi ignored the question. "Forget about that," he told her. "Explain to me where I've seen you before."

The woman blinked owlishly before composing what she could of herself. She stood rigidly as a solider and introduced herself, even if a little shaken, "I'm Claire Durand, I took your training classes back at Mount Glenn."

Sasuke remembered now. This woman was one of the few who came to actually learn from him instead of coming to watch his body glisten with sweat. As he heard many of the women there say when he walked around the subterranean town. On more than one occasion, the ninja wondered if their animal traits brought them into heat easier than regular humans.

Back to the matter at hand instead of criticizing the female department of the White Fang, the Uchiha turned to the woman. Claire didn't seem much like the physical type, so she may have been one of those who got tired rather quick, but she withstood his killing intent well enough. She was either strong-willed or that she was actually a more seasoned fighter than most cannon fodder.

"Considering your profession, I may have some use of you," the ninja informed, which had her perk up slightly. "What can you do for me while I'm in Vale?"

Claire looked up in thought. "I can keep an eye on police activity and plans," she began. "I can also hack into the Beacon security camera feed and keep you informed on who and where certain people are."

With a raised brow, Sasuke asked, "and _why_ would I need that?" He had to ask from how confident she sounded. Those did seem rather appealing, but he could manage without them.

"Do you want to run into Ozpin or the general by accident when you turn a corner or know when to hide at the right moment?" Durand almost sounded condescending. "I've been taught to know what I can of the enemy, and that's exactly what I can do."

Again with that confidence of hers. "Fine," Sasuke stated. Having someone keep an eye on those pesky surveillance devices sounded useful, especially since they may have been upgraded. Who was he to turn down an extra advantage?

"Didn't you hear a word I said!?" Claire shouted angrily. "I can help you find the tar-. . . What?"

Sasuke held back a sigh. "I said that you can help," he clarified to his new assistant, who was currently revisiting her owlish face again. "When you're done staring, I will inform you once I have a plan set."

That snapped Claire out of her stupor with a shake of her head. "Ah, yessir," she said a little dumbly, not expecting to hear his approval so soon. "I'll just go to the back and set up my equipment."

 _'People of Remnant are dependent on technology, it would prove useful to have that working against them,'_ the shinobi thought as he watched the woman head to the back room. He wasn't sure what else the people of this world had, but Sasuke doubted the commercial and military devices he had seen were all they possessed. Especially since the real haymakers were usually hidden from the public.

Deciding to look around Vale, he brought his hands up to form a seal and was enveloped by white smoke. When the cloud cleared, standing in Sasuke's place was the strategist of his world, Shikamaru. Complete in what the ninja saw him wear the last time he saw him; Jōnin vest and all.

The Uchiha used the Nara when he came back to Vale with the White Fang a few hours prior. An opposite of the Gaara transformation he regularly used, so it should be a fine choice if he wanted to walk around without drawing suspicion.

Recalling how to act as the shadow user, Sasuke called up on his inner irritability and the nearly nonexistent lazy demeanor, and walked out the front door with his hands in his pockets.

Vale wasn't in a panic as much as the people in it were very concerned at the events, so while there was a level of fear, it wasn't enough to cause worry for their borders. At this point of time, at least. Previously, there were plenty of Grimm attacking the walls, but it seemed the armed forces and Huntsmen were ready this time around.

While he walked around passing the many new security people and machines added, he noticed that regardless of the state the people were in, Sasuke was still the topic of discussion for many. He heard of the regular gossip and theories as the people ignored the young man in the green vest as he walked around.

 _'Vale is far more in control than I assumed,'_ Sasuke thought. While the people were discussing Gaara and himself, the fear wasn't very visible. _'False promise of safety from the council?'_ It wouldn't be the first time those in power tried to keep control of their people with such a method.

'Shikamaru' passed many streets until she was on the metaphorical border of the capital and Beacon, looking to the large academy in the distance he formerly resided in. _'I need to find a way to get Blake out of Vale before people find out,'_ Sasuke concluded as he began planning.

It still hadn't sat well for the Uchiha to do this, but he was a shinobi, his emotions had no place for the success of a mission. And that didn't just mean the kidnapping of Blake, that was only a fragment of his true objective. Perhaps the ninja would have felt better if he wasn't essentially handing her to someone who wasn't happy with her desertion.

 _'That would explain some of her animosity with the White Fang,'_ the shinobi realized after he poured some more thought into it, and he couldn't exactly blame her after meeting Adam.

He put further thought of that for later. For now, he needed to find a way to abduct a former insurgent in a castle filled with soldiers and Hunters from different schools, all while on a high alert status. And he needed to find a way to do so without alarming anyone before leaving for Mount Glenn. Sasuke doubted Blake would comply willingly and make things easier for him.

On her own volition, anyway.

 _'I don't need her to remain under the illusion for long. A few hours at most.'_ And that was if the plan went accordingly. _'Now for entering Beacon.'_ He would need Claire to find out any new installments from previously. Ozpin didn't react that well about his security after Pyrrha's miraculous healing from the previously-unknown individual, so Sasuke believed that the headmaster would be a bit more cautious once more.

Turning to leave, the Uchiha spotted several Atlesian Knights walking around the block he was in. _'I heard that Ironwood brought more security on the local council's behalf, but this is something else.'_ On his way to Beacon, he may have passed dozens of squads that consisted of soldiers and robots, mostly when he walked passed Dust shops.

But on the lighter side of Vale's news, it seemed the recent pickpocket syndicate went into hiding from the security measure. As claimed by the ones directing this borderline martial law.

 _'All of this to make their citizens feel safe again,'_ the Uchiha concluded. It was an over-the-top reaction, but the council and military had the right idea to calm people down from the negativity he himself caused. By showing an overwhelming force of protection, that was currently failing as the ninja they were hunting casually walked passed them to find the bookstore once more.

Sasuke walked the familiar route almost absentmindedly, casually walking through the heightened security of the city thanks to his disguise. He actually looked around for any familiar faces, but found none that he could remember. There might have been a few he stole money from, but none who were important enough.

Finding the old store was easy, the shinobi had visited it enough times that his body practically went on autopilot half way through the journey. He tried imagining what it would've been like if he wasn't in disguise, and it most likely would have taken much longer if the army of Vale descended upon him.

The disguised Uchiha walked through the door for Tucson's store, and immediately found Claire sitting on top of the repaired counter. "Are you done preparing what you need?" he asked her after transformed back, to which she nodded. "Find me the latest information of Beacon's security. I want to know everything from hidden eyes to possible traps."

She raised a thin eyebrow at the last one. "Traps in a compound full of students? Surely you're joking," Claire said, then remembered who she was talking to. "I'll look into it, even though it probably would be a bad idea for them to do that during the dance."

That little tidbit peaked the Uchiha's interest. "What dance?" he asked.

Claire looked up in remembrance. "Well, the news recently spoke about a dance would proceed as scheduled this upcoming weekend. Sunday if I remembered correctly," she informed. "So I don't think the headmaster would put traps."

 _'This is. . . too damn convenient. Does fate want me to kidnap Blake?'_ Sasuke thought as he blamed Naruto for this as well. _'If so, then so be it.'_ He turned to his assistant and said, "the mission will be to take the Blake Belladonna as the dance is happening."

Wide eyes were Claire's response. "What!?" she shouted. "Of all the times you could kidnap her, does it have to be when _hundreds_ of people, _trained_ people might I add, are present and watching!?"

"Hundreds of trained people in _one_ place," he countered. "All I need to do is find her when she's alone."

"How do you know she would be alone? She might have a date," Claire replied. She had seen the target's picture, and could assume that Blake would be the target of many hormonal teenaged human and Faunus boys alike, if she wasn't already.

"Because I know her well enough." He then walked passed his assistant to see the backroom, and saw three monitors on a desk. And to the side was a small workstation with precision tools arranged in a neat order. He didn't need to turn around to know Claire was watching and waiting for him to continue. "I've lived with them, eaten with them, spoken with them, and finally, _fought_ against them."

That last one wasn't pleasant, but had to be done.

Sasuke turned to the hacker. "Blake is not someone who takes part of festivities," he informed. "And after our latest encounter, I doubt she would take part of this dance either." The way the cat Faunus spoke and looked to him before he left reminded him of how the Uchiha used to be when he was hunting Itachi. "She will be trying to find me or the White Fang. And when everyone's at the dance and she's alone, that's when I will take her away."

There was a saying Sasuke heard during his lifetime, 'Friends make the worst enemies.' He just didn't know that he was going to be the one who took advantage of the knowledge he collected while he was with them, but made sure they learned only what he approved of from him.

Claire had a feeling of excitement well up in her chest as her boss explained. The planning in it would be extraordinary in a way, but very simple. In fact, considering what they were going up against, it was so simple that it was in itself extraordinary, but there might be a small snag.

"Sir, there's just a thing that needs to be done if we want the control of the cameras I promised," she told him. When he gestured for her to continue, she said a tad ashamedly, "I'm going to need a hardline connection into Beacon's mainframe for me to hack into the cameras." The firewalls of the academy weren't a joke. "I can't do it from here, so I need you to connect something for me from _within_ Beacon."

Perhaps it was because of Sasuke's reveal that these were tough, but that didn't change she needed someone to physically enter a modem into a computer connected to the mainframe for her instead of attempting to bypass wirelessly from the capital. She needed a physical medium to work with.

"That's fine."

"I know, I'm sorry I'm not as good as I clai-. . . What?" she asked dumbly once more at the nonchalance.

Nothing stopped Sasuke from sighing this time. He started having some doubts about having Claire around. "It's fine. I'm to be at Beacon soon, I may as well do your task," he clarified.

It took the deer Faunus a few blinks, but she finally understood what her boss said while _not_ upset about her. "Ah, yessir. Is there anything else you would like me to do?"

Claire took part of some engagements and thefts since she was in her early teens, so she liked to think she was an experienced member of the White Fang and knew how to read a person's character. Every time she came to Sasuke's classes, while a good teacher, he seemed to be rather irritable and didn't have much patience with many of the rookie girls that came.

The Faunus didn't know why the Uchiha was short-tempered during class, but seemed patient outside of it. Could it have been the stale cave air?

Nodding, the ninja explained, "until I get your hardline connection, do only the task I have given you."

Clair nodded quickly, even if it wouldn't be registered officially, all she had to do was look up any deliveries of those devices from the security companies or the delivery services themselves. If they weren't on the record, then she could watch the security camera's around Vale to spot any of the new security systems that could have been added.

Sasuke transformed back to Shikamaru. "Good, then I will return in a few hours," Sasuke told her in his friend's voice as he turned to leave.

"Wait, sir!" The Uchiha turned with a raised brow to look at Claire who shouted for him. "You're leaving again? Wouldn't be best we rest and eat first?" It had been hours since they left Mount Glenn, and even longer since either of them had eaten.

Sasuke looked her in the eye and said, "I will be dining at Beacon."

* * *

 **The last line might be lame, but for some reason I just laugh at the simplicity of it and kept it.**

 **Trivia:**

 **1- One of the versions of Sasuke's fight with Winter in chapter 9 was for Schnee to lose one of her eyes. Another version being that she loses both her eyes. Oddly enough, the idea of killing her never came up. I would kill a kind hearted Jaune, but not a tsundere elitist. . . I think I'm messed up in the head. Meh, I can live with that easy.**

 **2- In chapter 11, I had the idea of Sasuke picking up Ember Celica after he finished off Yang and fight with those against Weiss and Blake, while he used Yang's fighting style he copied with the Sharingan mixed with his own style. Didn't seem like something that would happen, so I scrapped it.**

 **3- I had the idea of Pyrrha mentioning Sasuke's help _AFTER_ she punched Weiss in the face with her recovered arm. Of course, she didn't really seem like the kind of person to do that, so that was scrapped. Basically, versions where she was more physically aggressive to show the revelation were all scrapped.**


	13. Who Has Me As A Friend Can Lack Nothing

**.**

 **Chapter 13**

 **So. . . how ya doing on this unlucky chapter?**

* * *

 **Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue; Would You Like A Chapter To Go Through?**

* * *

 **Chapter Thirteen: Who Has Me As A Friend Can Lack Nothing**

"What's your name and school?" a Vale guard asked as he looked to the disguised shinobi.

'Shikamaru' gave a fake sigh. He watched many students around him do the same after being asked that question before they could enter their own bullheads to reach Beacon, so he could guess it would be normal to be irritable from the repetitive question that he himself had just experienced.

"Shikamaru Nara; Shade Academy of Vacuo," Sasuke answered in a bored tone, exactly how he believed the true Shikamaru would have answered. When the soldier looked up to see the face and match it to the list in the Scroll he had on hand, he saw the red Sharingan before he seemingly widened his eyes as quickly as it returned to normal.

"Yes, Shikamaru Nara of Shade," the soldier stated with approval under the illusion. "Proceed to the bullhead." The guard will even forget he ever saw the disguised shinobi. And even if it came back to him, it would probably be among the countless memories of random students he had to approve of, so Sasuke may be safe if the memory came back up sooner than expected.

 _'I might need Claire to make a fake transcript to dissuade anyone curious,'_ the Uchiha thought as stepped into the aircraft that held other students. How hard could it be?

To distract himself from his usual discomfort of flying, Sasuke looked around the passenger compartment, and saw the militaristic uniforms of the Atlesians and the casual wardrobe of those from the Vacuoan academy. There weren't many with him since the bullhead was small, but neither looked to the other and conversed with their own companions.

Being ignored suited him just fine at the moment.

After thankfully getting off of the bullhead to set foot in Beacon once more, Sasuke found this place with far more security than previously. Which was saying something since it usually housed warriors in every corner.

 _'Does Beacon truly need to be protected so diligently?'_ Sasuke wondered with a raised brow as he saw soldiers walk on campus for extra security, and that was on top of the droids and Huntsmen that were around. Even if they had the future of Remnant in their hands, what could this school possibly have that was worth taking?

The ninja mentally shrugged and let go of that train of thought to return to his objective. Finding a server to Beacon's local mainframe, discreetly connect the modem Claire had given him to it, and to confirm if Blake fared as he expected. Whatever bits of information he finds during those were added bonuses.

With his hands tucked into his pockets, 'Shikamaru' walked passed the many humans and Faunus that were around him, entering the main building of the academy once more after a long absence. Unlike within the capital, Sasuke saw familiar faces he recognized from his time here. Even though all those currently in his field of vision were unimportant.

Sasuke continued walking forward, keeping an eye out for any added security device with his regular eyes, but it was proving difficult to catch any more than what were physically visible without any ocular assistance.

He paused when he heard familiar sounds of metal on metal striking one another as the shinobi was passing an open door. When he looked to the source, the results were both surprising and unsurprising at the same time. The entirety of team CRDL fighting against a singular Pyrrha Nikos.

 _'Finding one means finding the other,'_ the Uchiha thought as he entered the familiar classroom, which was large enough to hold the new students from different schools.

Sasuke leaned on the railing from the top bench to see the match that he already knew the result of. _'Seems that CRDL's previous actions weren't forgotten,'_ he mentally concluded as he saw the Mistral champion _brutally_ take all four of them down.

At the sound of final buzzer, Pyrrha stood over a beaten Cardin and stuck her left arm out for him to take. _'Interesting,'_ the Uchiha thought in mild surprise. He thought there might've been more animosity when you see one of the people responsible for taking away your arm, but he wasn't exactly one to argue as Sasuke was on both ends of that scenario.

The team leader looked to the appendage warily, before finally deciding to accept the offer and was helped up. Pyrrha leaned in to whisper something the Uchiha couldn't hear, and all Cardin did was have a look of shame on his face and nod slowly, before limping his way to collect his team and leave the stage.

Sasuke could only guess what she said, but left that for a much later time when his former professor spoke up.

"Well done, Miss Nikos," Glynda stated proudly. "I doubt you will have trouble qualifying for the upcoming tournament." The champion's only response was an appreciative nod.

The professor tapped her Scroll before looking to the audience, clearly not seeing past the Uchiha's disguise. "We have enough time for one more match. Would anyone like to test themselves?" She was greeted with silence, until she looked towards a familiar group of girls. "How about you, Miss Belladonna? You haven't participated in a while."

Sasuke gave a good long look at his target when Glynda singled her out, then resisted the scowl that was attempting to appear on his face. Blake looked far worse than he expected, even worse than the day after the docks.

The Faunus' hair wasn't as tidy like usual, black bags under her eyes were far more pronounced than the drama at the infirmary with Ruby, and she had a look of surprise when she was called out, as though Blake forgot she was even in class. She only remained quiet with hopes for the attention to go elsewhere.

Which it quickly did.

An arm was raised from within the crowd of students. "I'd like to give it a shot," a confident voice sounded. When the Uchiha looked to the source, it was the male of a trio he didn't like. He never got around learning his name, but neither did he want to.

"Mercury, was it?" Glynda said as she looked to her Scroll once more.

The ninja ignored the stage to take a longer look at Blake. _'It will make things easier. . .'_ he thought to himself with thinned lips. Blake's mind wasn't at its best, so a Sharingan illusion would be far more effective against it without the mind being healthy. _'Fate truly wants me to take her.'_

He missed the conversation, but only then did the Uchiha notice that the now-named Mercury chose to fight Pyrrha, who just came out of a fight with CRDL. Not that it seemed to wind her in any way, but the concept of sparring again after fighting an entire team was unusual.

It wouldn't do well to be caught staring at his target, so the ninja looked to the fight but without the focus to _watch_ the fight. He decided to think about the mission given to him instead. _'Blake is not mentally well, and that would be a boon for me. And she clearly will not be interested in the dance.'_ He recounted the facts. _'I will follow her and collect any new information of her habits.'_

A bang snapped him out of his planning, and saw how Mercury was flying after he kicked off of Pyrrha's shield. When the champion charged him, Mercury merely looked to the professor and said, "I give up."

Now that was peculiar to the ninja. From what he had seen, Mercury hadn't even suffered a single strike, and was at an advantage of being with the most Aura compared to Pyrrha's after her own fight a minute prior. The Uchiha found one solid theory that would explain this. _'Reconnaissance before the tournament,'_ he concluded.

It wouldn't be unheard of for people to test their future opponent's fighting style before the Vytal Festival, all without revealing their own, it was a legal and underhanded method that even he would've used if it was needed.

"Perhaps you should've been more careful when choosing your opponent," he suddenly heard Glynda say with displeasure, which had the Uchiha hold back a scoff from how _perceptive_ she was. It wasn't any of his business, and he was here on more important affairs.

On the say that they could leave, 'Shikamaru' walked out to the hallway, leaned on the wall, and brought up his Scroll to blend in. After a few seconds, team RWBY showed themselves to leave the building they were in, and Sasuke followed behind them with his Scroll seemingly as his primary attention.

For all anybody could tell, he was another student of Shade simply walking around and just _happened_ to be behind them at the time. Sasuke followed them discreetly enough, if nobody proclaiming his existence was anything to go by.

The Uchiha watched them leave the building, and when he did so as well, he stopped to avoid being walked into by a familiar blonde Faunus. Who seemed to have the same target as the mercenary.

"Hey, Blake," Sun called out with a wave, who got the irritable attention of the cat Faunus, and noticed how tired she seemed. "You doing okay?" he asked with genuine concern.

Blake gave a tired sigh. "I'm fine," she said. "What do you want?" From her tone, Sasuke could accurately assume that she was taking his betrayal and the White Fang in a way that hampered her health. Again, it was something he could use against her when the time comes.

"Right," the monkey Faunus said quickly as he cleared his throat. "Well, ya know, there's this lame dance coming up, and I thought that maybe we could go together. . . Waddya think?" Sasuke's belief of his target's state would be tested at this moment, but he could tell what the answer was, even if he didn't think so beforehand.

Furrowing her brows, Blake looked to him as though he asked the dumbest thing possible. "I don't have time for something as stupid like a dance," she stated sourly before she turned to catch up with her team, leaving Sun in an awkward position of rejection.

 _'As expected,'_ the Uchiha thought. He didn't know the effect would be this strong, but he would have to take advantage of Blake's poor mental state to take her away without resistance on her part. So the real finicky part would be the security details of Beacon.

A small idea came to the Uchiha. _'If she's trying to find out about the White Fang's activities, there could only be one place she could go to try and find them without distractions,'_ he thought with a hint of a revelation, before beginning his journey to the library and wait for Blake to appear there to watch her movements and routine.

On his way, Sasuke sensed the buzzing of his Scroll. He took it out of his pocket to look at who the caller was, and answered it. "Claire, what news do you bring?" he asked as he casually walked passed a few more of the new Atlesian Knights.

" _Sir, I found some details worth mentioning. Some might be troubling, even for you,_ " she responded, then stayed quiet for a few seconds to review the document she had. " _As of now, all I could tell you is that Beacon had a delivery of motion sensors and security cameras of very small sizes. A lot of them, sir._ "

This was both good news and bad news. Although, the good part of it was merely confirmation before pressing forward recklessly, while the bad part being that the added security measures increased the chance of hampering the progress he had achieved so far. All information was useful by this point.

"What more can you give me?" Sasuke asked his assistant.

Silent for a few more seconds, Claire reviewed the information she collected on the mercenary's orders. She finally said, " _besides the instructors from the other schools, those motion sensors and cameras are your biggest threat if you want to get the target out of there discreetly. I can find out where the motions sensors were placed from the recordings, but that means the camera feeds are a must._ "

He already knew that of the threat that these devices brought, but it didn't hurt to confirm that she knew as well. "Update me if anything else of concern comes to light," Sasuke informed. After he heard an affirmative, the Uchiha gave her a request. "Also, I need you to make a fake transcript for me to make sure my cover isn't compromised if someone becomes too curious. A student from the academy of Shade, specifically."

She knew the name of his disguise, and could make things up on the spot to make sure Shikamaru wasn't given a profile that stood out, so some mediocre stats would be in order. Claire knew what to do, she wasn't a veteran for show, and all he needed to do was connect a device. When he heard the affirmative once more, he closed the line just as he entered the ever familiar library he visited frequently many weeks ago.

Taking a computer station that oversaw the doors of the library, the disguised ninja began tapping away at the keyboard for no reason other than to blend in. It was difficult when he first started using these machines, and had to get used to the keyboard and know where's what, but his Sharingan quickly remedied that little situation. All Sasuke needed after that was to make tapping the button he needed practically instinctual, which was also quickly handled long ago.

One particular ad on the site he visited was particularly. . . _frustrating_.

 _'Like cockroaches, they always seem to be somewhere no matter what you do,'_ he thought with a great amount of displeasure as he saw an advert for the SUCC's campaign to investigate Sasuke further to prove his innocence. At this point, he believed he could commit a crime tantamount to mass murder and there would still be a few fangirls around. _'Those photographs aren't even of my body. . .'_

Sasuke Uchiha does _not_ pose shirtless, especially if he was glistening with sweat.

He quickly closed the site with the advert, and continued to find another the Uchiha could use without the possibility of punching the screen in irritation.

For an hour or so, Sasuke looked to miscellaneous topics that made it seem as though he was researching, but it was merely a cover in case anyone got curious. Which paid off as he saw a familiar black-haired Faunus finally come through the library's door, looking as unhealthy as the last time he saw her.

Sasuke saw how she plopped down on her seat with a sigh through his own translucent screen, and immediately began typing away. He couldn't see clearly what she was looking at, but he knew Blake's tired eyes weren't as focused as they should be for an investigation.

Again, the ninja resisted the urge to sigh. _'I can't be taking half measures to procure my Dust,'_ he thought to boost his conviction. In front of him several seats away was Blake Belladonna, someone who will probably get injured at best by that red-headed Faunus, but he had to bring himself to see her only as three freight containers of precious Dust. _'I will not have my emotions rule me and dictate my actions.'_

If Blake had listened to him during their first day together in Beacon, she might've had a better shot of finding the Uchiha with the clear trail of Dust robberies he helped commit. Even if she wouldn't truly find him. Merely the effects in his wake.

Sasuke thought of taking her here and now, but people would find out soon enough with the cameras and witnesses around, which would most likely result in a lock down for all of Vale. And that must be avoided, otherwise, his hideout with the White Fang at Mount Glenn would be compromised if they caught wind of the direction he was taking.

The risk outweighed the reward of a quicker pay this time.

Taking a tip from his stalkers of his home world mixed with Remnant's, the shinobi discreetly observed Blake behind his own monitor. After his reconnaissance tonight, he would connect the modem to a server of Beacon's local network.

The Uchiha's planning was interrupted when Yang walked through the doors, and slowly made her way to her Faunus teammate. She was standing right behind her when she placed her hand on Blake's shoulder, which had her jump slightly at the suddenness of it.

 _'This is. . .'_ As Sasuke watched Yang literally drag Blake forcibly from her seat, which had a sense of familiarity strike the ninja. He quickly squashed it to pursue his target and find just what the hell was going on. At least, he hoped it was something else entirely from his presumptions.

Making sure the two had a bit of a head start, 'Shikamaru' leisurely walked across the library to follow. His thoughts, however, were anything but so. _'This may be a problem,'_ he thought.

The Uchiha took a lot of factors in when he was thinking of a plan to kidnap Blake, but he forgot a rather simple, and rather obvious, game-changing element that could potentially foul it up: Friends.

Friendship had a way of bringing people out of their misery, and Sasuke knew this from experience more than most.

Outside, Sasuke saw a nearby door to a classroom closing, but blonde hair was seen before it was fully shut. He walked past the door, discreetly opened it to the smallest unnoticeable amount possible, and leaned on a wall to the side, listening intently to the conversation. The ninja kept the Scroll as his item of focus to blend in as he eavesdropped.

"You can't keep doing this to yourself," Sasuke heard Yang say seriously. "What you're doing won't help anybody. You need to rest." This wasn't the usual demeanor he often heard from her. Even though they were fairly muffled from the distance from the door within the large, echoic, and empty classroom, he could make out enough.

If the Uchiha looked through the small opening for the door, he would've seen Blake slam her fists on the desk in front of her while glaring at her comrade. "I can't rest!" she shouted angrily. " _He_ told me to rest last time, and look where that's gotten us."

Clearly, Yang hadn't taken that statement well. "And _he_ isn't here," she stated with an equal amount of anger. "If he comes through that door right now, what do you think will happen?"

Sasuke had a few ideas, but neither voiced them nor showed as though he was paying attention to the conversation as students around him walked on. It was getting late, but a few people were still around.

"I'll fight him," the Uchiha heard Blake say heatedly. "And show Sasuke the pain he showed us." The longer he heard Blake's side, the more it reminded him of his younger self, all hell bent on revenge. He wondered if having Blake hearing his side of the story would clear things up like himself with Itachi. Not that he would, but it was food for thought.

"You'd lose!" he heard Yang shout. The ninja couldn't see her shove the Faunus with little effort. "You think you could take him down by yourself when you're like that?" She waited for a response, but heard nothing. "You've seen what he's capable of, and you've seen that it would take more than just you to win. Especially when you're like this."

Resisting the urge to frown, Sasuke could tell where this was going. He was part of something eerily familiar back home, and it was- _'I must stop comparing my world with Remnant!'_ he berated himself again. It was happening far too much for his liking.

"I know what it's like to try finding someone, Blake," he heard Yang say almost ashamedly. "To the point where it just. . . just _hurts_ yourself and the people around you."

The longer the Uchiha heard this conversation, the more memories that began appearing in his mind. Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi were precious people to him, but his blind angered hunt for Itachi caused them pain from his betrayal. When he first fought Naruto at Valley of the End was a prime example of harming those around you because of an obsession.

Yang's story about her mother gave time for the memories the ninja didn't want to come in waves, before he clamped down when he noticed the unwanted images of himself impaling his best friend with a **Chidori**.

"Yang, this is different," Blake said without the edge from previously, which brought Sasuke's attention back to the matter at hand. "He's using the White Fang to steal Dust, I can't stop and do-"

It seemed the blonde cut her off, but the shinobi could only guess how, which was an unseen hug. "I'm not asking you to stop, but you can't do this to yourself. If you want to do this right, then we can help catch Sasuke with you," she clarified, then gave the Faunus a wink. "But first, you need to rest and let Sun take you to the dance for a little bit of fun."

There was a small pause and some grumbling, but within that was much deliberation on the Faunus' part. "I'll try," Blake responded meekly. "But then we go find out what the White Fang is up to." She only received a solid 'okay' and pat on the back.

 _'Damn it.'_ This was exactly what Sasuke was worried about when he saw Yang come out of nowhere to take her teammate away.

He needed to alter his plans to something entirely different. From taking Blake while she was alone, to taking her in the midst of a dance party of warriors. Or at least, before then, even when all the cameras were covering every inch of within Beacon and its surrounding area.

No, it has to be during the party, when there were too many people to focus on one. Where a single missing person wouldn't be counted before it was too late. He needed more intel on the camera angles, and the mercenary had just the Faunus for the job, Claire Durand.

The door to his side opened to its fullest, and walked out were the two of team RWBY. They both walked past the disguised ninja without giving the person on the Scroll a second glance. Only when they walked away did he look to them, contemplating more on what to do.

 _'Regardless of how I approach, I will still need the camera feeds,'_ Sasuke concluded as pushed himself off the wall to walk down a hallway.

Claire may be able to tap into them, but controlling them was a rather risky action to take. If anybody noticed, that would set off some alarms with whoever was keeping watch. With being able to see who was where, he would also be able to tell where the cameras were located from the perspective, and that was enough of an advantage.

 _'It's time for a change of plans.'_

* * *

"So, what are we going to do, sir?" Clair asked from her seat behind the six monitors, each one with twelve different viewpoints from cameras within Beacon. More screens were needed to be 'procured' since this was all they could put onscreen at once, and needed to transition between sets regularly.

Sasuke asked if they should get more White Fang technicians to keep track of the feeds, but Claire insisted that she could handle it alone. Citing that the only difficulty on her part was connecting the modem to the local server, which had been completed by the ninja a day previously.

If Sasuke were to compare finding the server room and connecting the modem without getting caught by the cameras with the help of his Sharingan, he would say it resembled rolling a coin steadily between the floor tile ridges. He needed to hide where the cameras weren't seeing, and he needed to do so while the cameras moved their line of sight, so he needed to be extremely quick and very precise on the timing.

Regardless, Sasuke got it done the day previously with a lot of help from the **Amenotejikara** and his Sharingan.

Looking towards one of the monitors, the Uchiha could see team CFVY discussing within the soon-to-be dancing area, while team RWBY were last seen entering their dorm room. "As I told you last night, the first step would be to take the image of her date, Sun Wukong," he answered. "How I will do so remains to be planned."

They had the cameras, and one of the feeds showed Sun mingling with his team within the main building, smiling away while unaware of what will befall him in a scant few days. Sasuke had an idea of taking him away in one of the very few blind spots from the cameras, but that heavily depended on the right circumstances.

He thought of using the Snake-Tailed Chameleon, but having a large mouth appear out of nowhere and swallow someone up does not make a stealthy approach. That wasn't even counting the massive smoke explosion to make it appear. No blind spot in Remnant could cover that, even outside of Beacon grounds.

Since Blake was the star that would certainly be noticed if she acted oddly, it's a risky maneuver if he replaced her with a clone who couldn't get her habits and mannerisms just right. Especially since the Sasuke clone would be in the presence of her team, who lived with her for months and got to know each other more intently than he could.

However, if Sasuke went as Sun and left with Blake, he doubted that many would try finding two hot-blooded teens that may have skipped a party for another form of 'entertainment'.

"You're going to need to find a way to lure him away from the public eye, then," the Faunus stated, which got her a nod. "What about taking him while he's in the capital?"

A scenario he thought of. "If I were to take his image well before the dance, it would mean that I will have to be with his team," Sasuke answered. "And I know too little about Sun to accurately portray him." He only needed to be with Blake for a few minutes, but being with his team who knew him personally until the party came along was too risky.

"Why not make him leave just before the dance?" Claire's statement got her the attention of the mercenary. "You could make people feel the compulsion to do certain tasks. Why not hypnotize him to leave an hour or so before you go find Blake?"

The Uchiha mulled it over. There may be a few factors that should be accounted for, such as how effective would the illusion be and if it could endure, but it may not be that big of a factor considering how long it lasted with Pyrrha, who wasn't a pushover in the least.

"A good plan," Sasuke stated with approval. "Find an area that is least visited and has a blind spot." Considering that a dance would be happening, he could guess that there would be fewer people anyway, but it couldn't hurt to be cautious.

He watched the Faunus tilt her head upwards in thought, then turned to the computer to tap a few keys on her keyboard. The result was a map with a handful of red dots here and there to highlight specific areas.

"I may actually have a few candidates that can help you," Claire stated. She then pointed towards the marked areas, each on different spots somewhat close to the vicinity of where the dance was taking place.

 _'Photographic memory?'_ the Uchiha pondered. It would certainly explain the lack of need for more technicians. She could technically just scroll through the feeds quickly and memorize where's what until the next 'update'. Or this Faunus was merely smarter than most.

Leaning in closer, Sasuke took a long look at the map and recognized a few of them. The blind spots in question were in rather obscure areas, like behind a bush where a camera was located and pointed forward, so hiding behind it would do fine. Another where two cameras crossed their line of view, but a small gap between the cameras themselves that could be exploited if done properly.

"Well done," he praised Claire, who nodded in thanks. With this new information in mind, the ninja started coming up with a plan of action. A rather possible and good one came to mind, but most importantly, it was very doable.

Sasuke began walking out to initiate phase one of the new plan, which was the implementation of a timed compulsion illusion on his first target. "I will find Sun," he told her, then saw through the feed that Sun and his team were outside the amphitheater, where the dance would take place. "Send me the information you gathered about Sun's team to my Scroll, and observe team RWBY for anything out of place."

A quick nod later, Claire immediately sent the document of information she collected about team SSSN last night on her boss' orders to his Scroll. All while keeping an eye on the targets her boss had given her.

After the mercenary transformed into Shikamaru, he left the bookstore during the afternoon on his way to his first objective at Beacon. The trip was familiar as it was tiresome. Finding the same faceless people around him, wandering to their routine lives. He preferred to read the intel his assistant had gathered on his mobile device than to watch these people.

Reaching the intended bullhead in mere minutes, the disguised ninja didn't wait for the question. "Shikamaru Nara, Shade Academy," he stated in a bored tone. Sasuke didn't need the Sharingan's illusion to help him enter this time.

The guard looked through his Scroll and found the rather mediocrely ranked Shikamaru Nara, who was born in Mistral but goes to Shade in Vacuo, where he moved to at the age of fifteen because of his family's financial trouble. Nothing odd and nothing special.

Exactly how Sasuke wanted.

"Proceed to the bullhead," the soldier told the infiltrator as he used his head to point towards the aircraft behind him.

Not even giving the guard a second look, the Uchiha casually walked passed him and was flown back to Beacon, while reading a document Claire had sent him about team Sun's team, SSSN. _'That naming must confuse people often.'_ He thought similarly about team RWBY.

Upon landing on Beacon grounds, 'Shikamaru' immediately made his way to Sun's current location. He had seen on the monitors merely minutes prior and he was near the ballroom, so he should still be there.

And sure enough, he came across the familiar blonde and his team minutes later. According to the file Claire had given him, it turned out team SSSN was more popular than he expected, all while being led by the blonde himself. It was a wonder how he was leader material, but Sasuke couldn't exactly argue since Naruto was the same.

Sasuke began approaching to lightly 'bump' into Sun in the hallway, but the large gates of the amphitheater suddenly flew open between them. And the person who walked out was the leader of team CFVY herself, and she looked less than pleased.

The ninja wasn't the only person caught off-guard by this sudden development, he looked to his target and the three with him, and they were looking oddly at the overly-dramatic way Coco brought herself into the hallway. Even the very few students around them were staring.

She turned her frowned face to the ninja, which really unsettled him, especially when she pointed towards him. "You!" Coco shouted. Sasuke immediately went into flight-or-fight mode, but that was put on hold when she swiveled to team SSSN. "And you four!" Only Sage didn't jump from the loud fashionista. "Get inside here and set the tables!"

This didn't confuse only the Uchiha, clearly the four were on the same boat as him. _'Is she seriously-'_

"Wait, what?" the redhead of team SNNN said dumbly. Scarlet was his name, if the ninja remembered correctly from the file.

Coco marched with her heels clicking loudly at each step, each one bringing her closer to Scarlet. The same teen leaned backward and gulped when she got in his face. Sasuke would bet all the Dust he collected that it was the fashionista's intended effect.

Lowering her glasses to look him in the eye, she said, "I said that you will set the tables."

 _'She seriously is.'_ He fought the urge to sigh in exasperation. Instead, he turned to walk the other direction and find the monkey Faunus another time.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sasuke heard from behind him. Not from a distance, but as though she was in spitting range. That theory was solidified when he felt a hand plop itself on his shoulder.

Thinking quick, Sasuke saw that he had three options. First, he could flicker out of there, but that was a no-go for obvious reasons.

Secondly, he could run, but had this gut feeling that Coco would chase him, for no other reason than that she picked him out. It never stopped her before when he helped Velvet, and he always had a problem with persistent people.

Thirdly, and this was the option he would rather not choose, was to go along and hope nothing out of the ordinary happened beyond that.

"I have an-" As the Uchiha had expected, Coco began dragging him back to the group without even pretending to hear what he had to say.

"That's what I like to hear," the fashionista said happily as she patted him on the back. Once in front of the gates, she had another statement to say. "Now go in there and start setting tables before I kick you in."

Option three it was.

Once inside, the shinobi noticed that there wasn't anybody here. Last he had seen, all of team CFVY were in here and were about to set this place up.

Fortunately, on a few accounts, he wasn't alone to be dragged to do Coco's bidding. When he looked back, team SSSN were also forced into this. "Why don't you get your own team to help?" he heard Neptune ask.

She shut the gate when she entered the amphitheater. "My teammates are concerned about their training for the festival. So I told them I could handle this myself while they practice," the fashionista replied as she sat on one of the chairs and crossed her legs.

"And by 'yourself', you mean us," Sun concluded. His captor gave him a nod, which had him slump his shoulders.

They were just about to head for the training grounds before this happened.

One decided to be a little foolish. "What's stopping me from leaving right now?" that dark-skinned member of team SSSN asked with some added bravado. According to Claire's file, this one was Sage.

"Oh my," Coco said with a faux gasp. "What am I to do? A lady such as myself to fix up the entire place for you people to enjoy." Sasuke never really thought of her as a lady when he first met her. Not even when she began 'tearing' up. "To think, I won't be able to enjoy it because of my one and only love's betrayal, Sasuke Uchiha."

That last statement brought silence, but the shock was very clear at her deceleration. One individual very nearly facepalmed specifically because she was using him as a scapegoat for her laziness.

"Are you serious?" asked Neptune awkwardly, and immediately regretted it when he was answered by excessive 'wailing' as she buried her face in her hands. The ninja had to admit, she wasn't that bad of an actress, even if a little overdone.

The four began to slowly walk to the door behind them, but the fifth didn't move at all. Sasuke figured that if his 'sweetheart' didn't get up to keep them in here, then she had something else planned to keep them from leaving.

The moment Scarlet opened the door for him and his team to leave, almost exactly on cue, Coco wailed louder, startling the team she brought in. But mostly, however, was when the students just outside noticed the crying and began giving dirty looks to the all-male team.

And thus, rumors and whispering began to spread. What more could have happened was left unknown as team SSSN stepped back into the undone dance floor and shut the door.

Just as the shinobi expected, Sun and his team walked back in, conveniently when Coco stopped crying and observed them as though nothing had happened.

". . . What do you want us to do?" Sun asked in defeat. When their captor pointed towards the other end of the room, he looked and saw a massive amount of tables and chairs piled onto each other. He could only sigh as he walked over to do the job he was pressed into, with his team following behind him.

Instead of joining them just yet, Sasuke observed the team as they began moving tables and such into piles of their own before their placement. They seemed more like prisoners of war that lost the battle from the absolute sense of defeat they were exuding.

"Aren't you gonna join them?" he heard Coco say as she flipped a page from a magazine. The Uchiha hadn't seen her carry one, so he was going to assume it was just around somewhere .

 _'An opportunity,'_ the ninja realized. It shouldn't be hard for eye contact to be made, especially with this few people around. But before he walked to his target, he turned to the fashionista with curiosity in his mind. "Do you actually like that terrorist?" he asked in a hushed tone for no one to hear except her.

She didn't even look up from her magazine. "Best you get to work before I beat you down," Coco stated irritably. When team CFVY found out about what he'd done, she wasn't sure what to think. This so-called criminal helped their teammate when everybody else merely watched or ignored what was happening.

Velvet may have taken the betrayal the hardest among them, she was very thankful for Sasuke's help and came to idolize him a small bit. She wasn't a fanatic by any means of the word, but it was disheartening to find out he was actually Gaara. The rabbit Faunus refused to believe anything she was told just yet. Not until things became a little clearer.

While Yatsuhashi and Fox weren't even that close to the Uchiha to begin with, they were also upset about the grand reveal. They may have gone out to Vale only once as thanks for Sasuke's help, but it was a pleasant one.

Coco herself was in a similar boat as Velvet, but a tad different in certain ways. She didn't want to jump into things too quickly, but she would kick that ninja's ass first and bring him in before asking him why he did all those things.

Stabbing a fifteen-year-old girl wasn't something that could be overlooked, but Sasuke never seemed like the kind to do things without reason. So Coco gave him the smallest benefit of a doubt, but only after she knocked some sense into him.

It was pointless to prod, so the shinobi went about to set his illusion on Sun. Where an opportunity came quicker than expected.

"Dude, mind helping set the chairs?" Sun said while carrying a large stack of chairs in his arms.

'Shikamaru' looked to where the others were, saw Scarlet setting the stage, Neptune moving tables, and Sage placing speakers in certain spots. As far as they were concerned, Sun was alone with the shinobi.

"Yeah, sure," Sasuke answered in his friend's voice and tone, turning away from Coco and her reading. He approached closer, but was molding the Chakra needed into the correct form, readying the illusion to be placed.

"Here, let me hold these," the disguised ninja said as he took the stack from the Faunus, who turned to get another stack of chairs. "Hey, look here."

The moment Sun turned to see what the deal was; he was greeted with the red eyes of the Sharingan. It took him a few seconds, but he finally widened his eyes in realization on who this was. Unfortunately for the team leader, it was too late.

A few blinks later, Sun suddenly felt like he had forgotten something, but shrugged it off as something unimportant. "What is it?" he asked the brown-eyed guy in the green vest.

"Just want to know where I should put these," the new guy asked. The Faunus only pointed towards the captor, and mouthed, 'ask the demon'.

 _'Are these people who fight monsters afraid of talking to a woman?'_ It's not that he didn't realize that Coco was strong compared to them, but to go as far as avoid talking with her was something else. 'Shikamaru' approached the captor, who looked up from her magazine to eye him. "Where would you like these?"

At that, she instantly went back to reading. "Just put them beside each other on the walls. _All_ of the chairs," Coco replied.

Sasuke looked towards the _hundreds_ of seats they had to place, and sighed at the work he had to do to simply leave the amphitheater. _'Troublesome.'_

* * *

 **Yes, I know team CFVY weren't there during the dance in canon. If you see something different from the RWBY series, it's because I planned it. The butterfly effect is a real thing going on. You can change small things and not much will change, but how small were Sasuke's actions? Yeah, hella big.**

 **Trivia:**

 **1- I was going to stop writing this fic until season 3 was completed to continue, but it seems that happened as I was writing, so I'm going to stop** **at the of the season 3 arc** **until season 4 finishes. Some good news, though, Rooster Teeth said that the hiatus between seasons 3 and 4 is going to be shorter than the previous ones.**

 **2- After I finish writing the chapter for the end for season 3, expect an alternate ending chapter. Kind of like an omake, but less of a comedy and more of an 'OH FUCK!' kind of deal. At least, that's how it plays in my optimistic mind.**

 **3- I was** _ **inches**_ **away from making the Chakra Rod blades be corrosive to Aura users. The way I saw it, the blades themselves are made from Chakra, an energy. Aura itself is a different energy, so what would happen if two different energies meet? Do they clash or do they merge? So I just went the middle route of neutrality (Fokin' pussy!) with the blades being too solid to give any residue.**


	14. To See The Sun Rise And Set

.

 **Chapter 14, I've been waiting for you!**

 **Just read, why else did you come here? Marry me? What's wrong with you?**

* * *

 **You'll Probably Be Red From Anger, But I'm Turning Blue From Laughter; I Hope You Don't Kill Me After This Chapter!**

* * *

 **Chapter Fourteen: To See The Sun Rise And Set**

"Everything is set in place. The next step is to infiltrate the academy," Sasuke told his assistant. "Do you remember your role?" It was well into the evening, and the party would begin in a mere two hours.

Claire nodded. She wasn't studying Beacon blueprints for fun, and now she knew the quickest routes to nearly anything within the school. From keeping track of party crashers to police and military activity, she would make sure her boss was informed of anything and everything that may have something to do with the mission.

She had no intention of letting the mercenary or the White Fang down. After everything Sasuke had done to help her Faunus brothers and sisters, she would make sure this mission was a success, even if it was nothing more than a personal request from Adam himself.

The Uchiha was content with the look of determination on her face. In several minutes, he would have to get into Beacon and reach the spot where Sun Wukong would wander into. That was when Sasuke would disable him and impersonate the blonde Faunus.

"Good," the ninja said before he stuck his hand out to Claire, who placed a small device in his palm. "You are certain no one would be able to spot it?"

Again, Claire nodded. "This earpiece blends into the ear," she began. "They would only find it if they were looking for it, sir. And that was _if_ they were close enough to your face at the right angle."

Looking to the miniature speaker in his palm, Sasuke could only describe it as a small skin-colored cone with a silver tip, and that was the part to go in first. He placed it deep inside his right ear, which immediately muffled everything he could hear from that side.

" _Can you hear me?_ " the Uchiha suddenly heard from the earpiece, then looked to his assistant to see that she was speaking into the microphone of the headset she was wearing. He nodded, indicating that he heard her clearly.

Claire covered the mic of the headset and said, "remember, sir, the earpiece is one-way communication. It's all I could make with the limited time given. You're going to have to improvise if you need to tell me something." They didn't really have one at the ready, so she took a spare Scroll laying around and took out the parts needed to make the small earpiece.

She couldn't do much with the fixed scrap parts present, so Durand altered what she could and threw out the expendable to combine a cut down speaker, a shortened transmitter, and an improvised battery.

Cutting them up and making it into a single small piece wasn't easy with the amount of time and parts given to her, but she wasn't a master technician of the White Fang for nothing.

The battery in it wouldn't last half a day, but they only needed a few hours at most. Which was also one of the reasons she didn't add a microphone, as it would drain more of the battery and make the earpiece larger.

"That's fine," the mercenary told her. "You know your role, and that's all I need from you." If anything, he could call her on his Scroll if he absolutely _had_ to reach her. But that was unlikely to be needed due to the nature of their jobs in this mission.

It was important for Sasuke to know his surroundings, not Claire. What threat there could be during this operation would only affect him since he would be in the field, so he had to trust his assistant in the safe house to know and inform him the right intel at the right moment.

Sasuke was ready as he would ever be, even if the target was someone he knew. Three freight containers of Dust would give a good push on the remaining he would need for the trans-dimensional seal. His return to who could only be considered as his family depended on it.

With that in mind, he only said two words, "let's begin." He brought his arms up and crossed his fingers into a seal, which brought six clones to appear in an explosion of smoke behind him. The copies looked to the original with a nod, then flickered out of sight.

Forming another seal, he was enveloped in the familiar smoke once more, now Shikamaru stood in place for the ninja, even though the transformation was only an extra precaution. He looked to the Faunus, who gave him a thumbs up after taking her position in front of the monitors. She pushed her glasses in place, and was ready with the tools needed to keep things up to date.

The disguised ninja didn't waste a second. He stepped out to the roof of the building of where the bookstore was, the place he called home for the past few days in preparation for the mission at the academy, his older home. 'Shikamaru' was still considered present in Beacon's system thanks to Claire, so it was important he wasn't caught outside while leaving the White Fang safe house.

To Sasuke's skills and Sharingan, the threat of cameras was pretty much the same as before, with only a few added high-end ones here and there; according to Claire, anyway. Most likely from how expensive even one of them were.

Taking a different route than usual, he was going to avoid taking the bullhead to Beacon, since they were all out of service during the celebration. He was very thankful that he wasn't caught using the wall-climbing technique, which made things go that much smoother.

Even with the Atlesian armada overhead.

He hid from any passing aircraft, not willing to risk being caught so soon out of carelessness. Instead of continuing further, he waited for a few minutes on a random building while watching the Atlesian aircraft that flew.

Then he continued waiting.

Until the effect was practically instantaneous. Several squadrons began diverging towards the industrial district, the farthest they could from him.

 _'Diversion is a success,'_ he thought with a small amount of pride. As of this moment, 'Gaara' and five of the White Fang were currently robbing a Dust shop in an area with sub-par law enforcement. The kind that would ask for help at the sign of a well-known criminal and his lackeys.

Considering they were near the outskirts, surrounding them in and closing down Vale would prove impossible, as a criminal would run away at the earliest sign of this long process that required more men and resources on all the borders. The best the military could do quickly and efficiently was locking down the district and focus on that.

Which was what the ninja wanted. And it was certainly possible with the experienced General Ironwood nearby to order such things. More so since the Uchiha pissed off the officials with his disguise right under their noses. _'A controlled vendetta would work well for me,'_ he thought.

No way would a proud Atlesian general not try to get back at the person who stole his Paladins.

Sasuke pressed forward in a flicker with his Sharingan active, making excellent time while avoiding the military grade cameras, that have a high chance of catching him, and the usual security cameras. He would reach Beacon in minutes, but some good news came his way from his earpiece. " _As you planned, a large fraction of the Atlesian force are moving towards your clones. Expect only the bare minimum of airships, sir._ "

It helped that the general was going to join the party as well, and would most likely not be disturbed from simply another sighting of the elusive Gaara, besides the request for instructions. If he was, then it wouldn't do much since Sasuke would have already infiltrated Beacon. And to Vale's knowledge, the criminal group would escape to outside the Kingdoms to whatever hideout they made.

The rest of the way was like a stroll. Even with the hiding from the occasional passing airship, it barely slowed him down and was well on his way to approach the cliffs of Beacon, his angle of entry. Again, the Uchiha was thankful that he was never caught using the wall-climbing technique.

A certain nurse may have seen him walk on the ceiling, but it took a long time for Pyrrha to remember even with Deja vu, and her Aura level and strength were far from that of a civilian. Sasuke doubted a regular nurse would overcome his memory illusion.

Although, it was mostly from the lack of experience with Sharingan-induced illusions that used Chakra instead of Aura was the real reason the authorities couldn't bring those memories back from the nurse. The ninja hoped they wouldn't come up with the extremely simple answer of 'He walks on walls'.

Sasuke reached the base of the cliff, but didn't waste a second as he then leapt upwards and flickered across the face of the rocky side; reaching the top quickly with ease.

What stood before him was Beacon Academy, and it was rather beautiful in the night time. Sasuke didn't have time for sightseeing during a mission, so he immediately made his way to the intended destination. His earpiece came to life, and Claire's voice was heard.

" _Considering the time,_ _you should've just reached Beacon, and I'm here to tell you that, so far, you haven't been seen or detected,_ " she told him. " _Police activity's attention is still focusing on your clones in the industrial district. They're preparing for a kind of push, actually._ "

Fortunately, the clones knew that was the point. For the wild goose chase to work, they would need the 'chase' aspect. Sasuke wondered how long the armada were willing to chase his copies until they disappear on their own.

The Uchiha was being informed of the situation as he was running through the hallways, flickering and teleporting in the blind spots of the cameras, or high up on the walls that were simply walkways for him. He didn't need to worry about motion sensors out here, too many students walked through here all the time and proved counterproductive to place them there.

He ended up with a sore, tomoe-less left eye from the very liberal use of the **Amenotejikara** in the end, but he reached the place where his target should appear in thirty minutes or so. Thus, the waiting game began, and Sasuke was outside in a corner that dipped inwards to the building.

Or more specifically, he was crouching _on_ the wall. And right below him, was the camera that intended to catch any intruder, and was failing rather miserably.

Looking around, the last Uchiha couldn't find a soul anywhere, even with the Sharingan scanning the area.

Sasuke waited, but wasn't without a small amount of turmoil. _'This is not the time, nor the place,'_ he thought to himself when he held back another sigh that attempted to escape him. _'Shinobi have done worse for less, and some have done the horrific for greater.'_

If Itachi could kill all but one of his entire family for the sake of Konoha, then Sasuke could kidnap a single teenaged girl for the very same reason. While he was at Beacon before all this, he didn't have anything too positive to say about team RWBY, but they were pleasant on certain occasions. Even if Yang was **far** too into _Remnant: The Game_ for his liking when the Uchiha indulged her thousandth plea for a game together.

His clone did, anyway. During the board game of conquest, the original Sasuke was busy invading an _actual_ fortress at that time.

" _The first target is coming your way, sir,_ " Claire said through the earpiece, which snapped him from his thoughts, the kind that drifted to the unnecessary memories.

The ninja shook his head from anymore stray thoughts to focus on the mission. He only waited another minute, and sure enough, a familiar blonde Faunus came to view.

Sun looked as though he was walking absentmindedly, uncaring of where his legs took him while his mind was elsewhere. Most importantly, however, was that there was no one besides Sun that was in the immediate area.

Currently, the blonde Faunus was making his way to the spot the Uchiha designated for him to reach. Once Sun reaches the destination, he would be right under the camera and out of its field of vision. A spot that could probably only hide two people if they were to stand underneath it.

From the way he was walking, Sasuke could tell he had no focus at present time, even when he reached the corner to lean on the wall, Sun wasn't aware of his actions.

 _'It's time,'_ the ninja thought as he silently walked down the wall, around the camera, and right until he was above blonde hair. The Uchiha didn't dare make a sound, in the case the irritating surveillance would catch it. So instead, he leaned forward, and exhaled a breath on his targets head.

The effect immediate. Suns stiffened at the odd sensation, the looked upwards in confusion, before that quickly turned to surprise once more at the sight of the Sharingan.

Sasuke grabbed his shoulders before the Faunus could fall forward and into camera view. There was another reason he chose this spot, so instead of dumping him somewhere public, he used the **Amenotejikara** one more time to teleport himself and Sun to a broom closet on the other side of the wall, where no one would find him until it was too late.

Taking a good look at the image he was going to impersonate, the Uchiha was far from impressed at the wardrobe he picked out to take Blake to the dance with. _'Blondes. . .'_ he thought while unamused. Nothing but a tie to Sun's casual wardrobe.

Honestly, were blondes in Remnant all similar to Naruto in one way or another? If he found out that Glynda was into ramen, that would be it for him.

His eye stung at the teleportation to the hiding spot, and hurt worse when he used that same technique again to take himself outside and under the camera. The Uchiha didn't need a mirror to know whatever tomoe that came back during his wait for Sun and the Rinnegan to recharge were gone for a longer while than before.

Bringing his arms up to form a seal, he was engulfed by the familiar cloud that immediately dispersed. But even Sasuke knew that it wasn't short enough.

" _A very small white haze appeared on the lower edges of the screen. Nothing to worry about unless the operator was extremely paranoid,_ " Claire said reassuringly. Even she thought it was just the screen malfunctioning slightly until she remembered what her boss warned her about.

It was one of the things he was concerned with, so the Uchiha had her keep a lookout if the cloud dissipation was too obvious. And thankfully, it didn't seem as though it was clear enough for the guard watching the feeds to notice anything too out of place.

The Uchiha was not pleased with the lack of fashion sense Sun had, since now the ninja had to endure this. He may not be Coco Adel and was picky about clothing, but even the Uchiha had certain limits. But that wasn't the only irritation he had to endure for choosing Sun.

 _'This tail is cumbersome to control,'_ Sasuke thought as he looked to the conjured appendage in annoyance.

While Sun had the instinctual and passive control over his tail, Sasuke had to be meticulous on how it sways every step of the way, otherwise, it would just be just pointing towards the floor like a plastic toy regardless of his movements. If he tried too hard, then it was like a stiff, yellow, furry pole coming out of his. . .

It wasn't pleasant.

The tail itself was made from Chakra, without the bones and muscle to stop it from angling oddly. And the last thing the Uchiha needed were right-angles while moving his new tail. Which was another factor he had to consider while moving it around.

The ninja sighed. He realized that he must act out of his character to portray Sun well enough. _'Perhaps I should channel my inner-Naruto. . .'_ It sounded a lot worse in his head than he expected. He loved his brother-by-bond, but even Sasuke could be irritated by the large amount of boisterousness.

After a minute to get used to the new tail, Sasuke began walking out towards party and find Blake, but not before stretching his arms upward in the camera's line of view.

" _Glad things went well, sir,_ " Claire said through the earpiece. If 'Sun' stretched like that, it meant the identity theft was a success. " _Blake has just left the room, so you might find her on your way. Somewhere in front of the amphitheater would be ideal._ "

That was good news for the mission, so the shinobi began walking toward the dance area, no longer needing to stay hidden from the cameras, which was later affirmed by his assistant. " _So far, no activity indicating they're alarmed, while the military is still focused on the other group. I think we're still in the clear, boss._ "

The Uchiha knew that she would continue watching for any possible change, but was still cautious if there was anything she could have missed.

" _I have an update about the diversion group you sent,_ " Claire began, which brought her the undivided attention of the mercenary. " _The Atlesians began chasing Gaara and his group to the agricultural district of the city. Probably to close them in somehow._ "

He could sympathize with the guards a slight bit. He was in a similar situation when he first saw Itachi after the massacre and attempted to attack him. _'When a goal is that close, one cannot help but chase after it,'_ Sasuke thought. Of course, the authority's goal was merely a construct of Chakra, but they didn't know that at the moment.

Continuing on, the ninja began hearing music that emanated from the party, that electronic genre of music where the instrument was the computer itself or altered by it. He hoped those partygoers appreciated it, because Sasuke and team SSSN worked hard to fix the place up.

All while Coco 'supervised' without tearing her eyes away from her magazine.

" _Target's right behind you, sir._ "

The Uchiha turned and saw Blake in her dress. But more importantly, she looked much healthier than before. "You look good," he said honestly in Sun's voice.

Blake gave a small smile at that. "Thanks, and you look great in a tie," she complimented as she walked closer to him.

Either she was kindhearted, or she had low standards if a mere tie appeased her, but Sasuke wasn't playing matchmaker or here to criticize her tastes in the time being. With a smile in return, he stuck an elbow out for her to take, which she took without missing a beat, and began making their way to the party.

The disguised Uchiha looked to the Faunus and asked, "where are the rest of your team?"

"They'll be waiting inside," she replied, then sighed. "Probably to make sure I don't skip it for something else." Both of them knew exactly what the 'something else' was, but perhaps not the original Sun. "What about yours?" she asked when they got closer to the gates of their destination.

 _'Currently in another world waiting for me,'_ he thought cynically. "We'll see 'em soon, I'm sure," he said just as he opened the door to the dance.

Inside, couples danced away to the music, or simply stood and chatted with their friends or dates near the tables that held food of different varieties. All in all, Sasuke and team SSSN did a good job.

"Hello there," said an accented voice. When 'Sun' looked to the source, it turned out to be Velvet, who was the receptionist of the event. "Oh, it's you, Blake. Glad to see you up and about," she said a little hesitantly.

"I'm sure," Blake answered neutrally, before dragging the disguised Uchiha into the party. Leaving the rabbit Faunus to her job hastily.

Considering what happened just then, Sasuke was unsure of what went on between these two Faunus, and he didn't care all that much considering what he needed to do, but Sun most likely would have.

"What was that was that all about?" 'Sun' asked in confusion.

Blake frowned, but answered, "it's nothing you need to worry about. Just something between me and Velvet."

It was true, in a sense. Both Faunus met up a while back and conversed, but that ultimately led to an argument about a certain individual. Where he helped one, but betrayed the other. Velvet was adamant that there was more to the Uchiha than they think, but Blake had none of it.

The rabbit Faunus understood the gravity of what Sasuke had done, but couldn't simply accept Blake's vehemence about the traitor. Velvet used that moment to recall the time when she was bullied by Cardin, and how Belladonna merely watched while the 'criminal' came to her help, which upset and angered her counterpart further, even if partly out of guilt.

Needless to say, things were rather frosty between them. So they had an unspoken agreement to talk as little as possible, to make sure things didn't go out of hand when emotions began ruling them.

Before he could ask more about what happened, an arm of a familiar brawler wrapped around Blake's shoulders.

"Glad to see you made it," Yang said as she brought her teammate's head closer to a one-armed hug. "I thought I would have to go out there and find you." Well, that proved it to the ninja it was a good idea to go this route. "Or put up some lost cat posters."

Blake groaned at the bad joke, while 'Sun' just sighed. "Can you not?" she pleaded. "I'm here at the dance-" She unwrapped herself from Yang and took Sasuke's elbow again. "-with a date. So can I go dance now?"

Belladonna began dragging her date away to not stick around for another one of her jokes, but not before 'Sun' whispered to the other blonde, "I thought your joke was a good one, by the way." And flashed a quick thumbs-up and a toothy smile, which was returned by Yang with a triumphant look on her face.

One of her jokes was finally appreciated.

Since she had nothing better to do and, surprisingly, no date to accompany, Yang might as well join her sister in one of the balconies.

Sasuke hoped he didn't sound too cheesy while trying to blend in as the monkey Faunus. He never had much experience with social interaction outside of those who broke through the walls he put up, but the former avenger would try his best for those very people.

"Erm, Blake," the fake Sun asked 'hesitantly' before they went to dance. When he got the actual Faunus to look at him, he looked away in faux shyness. "I kinda wanna tell you something." He was really thankful his friends weren't here to see this. Naruto would never let him live it down; disguise or not.

The real Faunus blinked in confusion. "Well, you can tell me," she replied.

"It's something private." One of the balconies had a very tight blind spot, but definitely manageable. "Can we talk som-"

Before he could finish giving his request, Neptune decided to interrupt them with his presence. "Dude, you have no idea how long I've been looking for you," he said. "Can you believe how well we did to set this place up?"

Of all the times he could've been praised for anything, Sasuke would have hoped it was not during a mission where the longer he stayed, the better the chance of something wrong happening. The Uchiha hoped the luck he was infected with would last a while longer.

"Wait, you guys set this place up?" Blake asked with a raised brow. "Weren't team CFVY the ones who did it?"

Team CFVY came back from their mission a little later than expected, but they were still given the task of setting up the dance as previously planned. Ozpin stated that if they were late, then another team would have taken that responsibility instead.

Thankfully, the area Coco's team were in already had reinforcement from other Hunters. Gaara's reign had the council boost up their defenses along the borders, which meant more Huntsmen and Huntresses in generally all areas. And the student team had more people to work with against the horde that they had to take care of.

Neptune looked around to see if Coco was close by, then leaned in and whispered, "Coco forced us-" He gestured to himself and Sun. "-and some other guy to set this place up while her team practiced."

A raised brow was her first response to that. "Well, I guess we have you guys to thank then," Blake stated with a smirk. "But don't you have a date to dance with, Neptune?"

Worry struck the blue-haired warrior. "Y-Yeah, of course I do," he said quickly. "Well then, I'll leave you two be." Then he rushed off to whatever direction he decided to take.

To the Uchiha, it was about time Neptune left. Sasuke would rather not stay longer than he should have. He began thinking that it would've been best if the rest of team were put under the illusion as well.

Turning to his date, 'Sun' asked, "now that he's gone, can we talk somew-"

" _Whoa, what the hell was that!?_ " Claire exclaimed in the ninja's ear, who held back a wince at the sudden loud noise. After that loud exclamation, he suddenly began hearing furious tapping of his assistant's keyboard.

Sasuke found the constant interruptions being bothersome, and considered tearing off the earpiece to remove one of them. But thought better of it, especially in front of Blake who looked at him worryingly.

"You okay?" she asked with concern. "You just froze all of a sudden."

"It's nothing," Sasuke replied reassuringly. "Something came to mind, is all." He cleared his throat for a moment. "Can we talk somewhere private, please? It's really important." Blake looked at him weirdly for a moment, but nodded to the request, and she followed when he gestured for her to come with him.

The Uchiha was certain he didn't need to call his assistant to know what had just happened; and he was right.

" _Sorry, boss,_ " Claire apologized. " _Everything just blinked to black for a moment; it was weird as hell. I'm not sure if anybody else saw it, though since nobody is indicating any alarm yet._ " That was rather reassuring, actually. " _Unless. . ._ " And that was less so. " _I'll check what that was later on, but I will focus on the current task first._ "

That's what was important at the moment. Sasuke didn't need anybody important to be sidetracked when he was a minute away from taking his target. Especially the one in charge of the intelligence for the mission.

But that didn't mean he wasn't wary of that sudden development with Claire. Sasuke could only hope that the peace lasted a while longer. _'I'm so close.'_

The couple reached an empty balcony, and it was so because people inside were focusing on dancing. None would come out there to do whatever when the party was reaching its climax back inside.

Sasuke's form began slowly walking to the far left, the corner where the railing met the wall. He didn't need to look up to see a fisheye vision camera, or whatever ridiculous name it was called. The only part that mattered was it had a very wide angle of view.

Blake followed closely, making both of them hidden from those within, but not the camera above. They should still be well within its view.

"What is this about, Sun?" Blake asked worriedly. "What is it that's so important that you need to talk to me-!?" She didn't finish her sentence, because her date suddenly pushed her to a wall, both bodies touching each other and flattening themselves on the wall, while he put his hands on the wall to her left and right, not allowing her to slide away. Faces practically a hair's breadth apart.

Right under the camera, and out of its view. " _You're good, sir,_ " Claire confirmed.

Blake wasn't suffocating, but was uncomfortable from the force from her date pushing her into the wall. It hit her then what he was doing. "Sun, you can't be thinking about doing this here?" she said in her shock. "We haven't even known each other for that long!"

With a small honest sigh, the Uchiha dipped his head down, covering his face with his blonde hair. "No, Blake, that's not why I'm doing this."

With confusion marring her face, she heard of moments when something like this would happen during parties, but Sun never seemed like the person who would do this. Hell, he chivalrously saved her from Torchwick when she fought at the docks. So it was almost reassuring to hear him say that last bit, even if still unclear.

The moment Sun looked up, everything became clear with those familiar red eyes, that Blake peered into with her own widened amber eyes. _'How could he be here!?'_ she exclaimed in her mind in utter surprise, but that quickly turned to anger.

She wanted to shout, to exclaim, to call for help, but with all those in her mind, not a single sound came out of her mouth. When the Faunus tried to even talk, she could only manage several choppy sounds of some kind, but none loud enough to be heard by those inside.

Blake tried to move her arms, but they would only fidget in their place. She realized that her body was paralyzed, but she wouldn't give up. She kept trying to fight whatever Aura, Semblance, or technique Sasuke used on her.

The Uchiha began activating his Rinnegan, readying to use the **Amenotejikara** to teleport them both out there to hide behind a bush below the balcony, where there would be no camera to see them. but he heard a warning from Claire. " _A guy is headed to your balcony and will reach within seconds. If you're not out of there yet, be quick or be subtle._ "

The Rinnegan wasn't fully activated as it needed just a few more seconds for the right chakra to begin flowing correctly. There was an option he could use, but that didn't mean he liked it.

Blake widened her eyes further as her enemy began leaning his face in, but that shock was soon amplified when their lips met. She assumed the Uchiha had gone insane, even more so when he began caressing her face in a gentle and loving manner. The Faunus couldn't help but be confused.

"Oh!" Blake heard from her side, but couldn't see who as Sasuke's hand blocked her vision. That was when she understood what was going on. Eyes could tell a lot, so it would better if the bystander didn't see her distress. "S-Sorry!" Jaune's voice shouted before she heard him running to avoid the 'lovey-dovey' scene of two people kissing in a discreet area.

Sasuke pulled back from the kiss, and whispered to his shocked captive, "don't be mistaken. I will do what I must."

His Rinnegan was fully activated and ready to be used, but he didn't need advanced sight to know that Blake was fully pissed, if the killing intent coming off her was an indication of anything. It was honestly impr-

 _BOOM!_

As it turned out, the Uchiha used up all of Naruto's infectious luck long ago. _'Damn it. . .'_ If it wasn't some random person interrupting him, it was an explosion. Why the hell not?

And who first was to break the news? It was Claire Durand, of course.

" _Holy shit!_ " she exclaimed. " _There was an explosion at the CCT tower!_ " That wasn't the news he wanted to hear, but she remedied that really quick with worse. " _Boss, the Atlesians were just given the order to turn back by the general himself._ "

All this in a span of a few seconds, the general probably got to the conclusion of what he was chasing, and an assumption on who was responsible for the explosion. His troops left the area near the CCT tower, to chase an elusive enemy on the other side of the city, then an explosion occurred at the very tower.

It didn't paint a pretty picture for the ninja.

The only thing Sasuke knew was that, besides diverging the troops elsewhere, the explosion had nothing to do with him.

"What happened!?", "Something on the tower exploded!", "Was it Sasuke Uchiha?" and other similar statements and questions were heard as people moved to the balconies, Sasuke's included, to see what was going on.

Sasuke looked behind him to the CCT tower, and saw a trail of smoke climbing from the highest floor. Whoever was there either had great timing, or that the Uchiha was just really unlucky to pick this moment for the mission. " _Boss, they just began closing down all of Vale. You need to get out of there,_ _ **now.**_ "

Time was against the ninja the moment he had set foot in Vale once more, but he thought that he had everything in its place and everybody accounted for. How could anyone predict an event like this?

Unbeknown to him, Yang had no responsibility during the dance, and was able to join her sister on the balcony since she, unsurprisingly, too was alone. The moment Ruby spotted that black-clad person hopping from rooftop to rooftop, so did Yang. Both had different ways to approach _who_ they thought this person was.

One explosive round from Ember Celica was all it took to ruin Sasuke's plan for discretion.

"Ah. . . Sa. . . Sssu." The Uchiha looked back to Blake, clearly trying to call for help of the audience preoccupied by what was going on. While it didn't work, it didn't mean that people would stay ignorant for long; with or without her stuttering.

It was time to leave. With the Rinnegan activated, Sasuke began molding the chakra necessary for the **Amenotejikara** to drop him and his target down below. But again, friendship tended to be a bothersome thing to be up against. Especially when the only member of team RWBY present in the vicinity was looking for her teammates.

"Blake!?" the Uchiha heard Weiss cry out from his side, she certainly spotted them in an intimate position even with all that's happening. "Now's not the time to-" She froze under the illusion when she saw the ever familiar red and purple eyes. The ones that caused them havoc.

Unfortunately, Sasuke may have had the heiress under an illusion, but those with the balcony wizened up a bit when they heard incredulous yelling from Schnee heiress. So when these random students looked to why she was yelling, a few saw a blonde person they found familiar, but they stiffened as his eyes were not.

Then that person vanished in thin air, but without his prey.

Why? Because he needed to get out of the city as quick as possible.

Not only would he need to use the **Amenotejikara's** short ranged teleportation, amongst other techniques, for himself to assist his getaway before things got even worse, but now he needed to do so with Claire as well. Straining the limits of the Rinnegan even further after its extensive use earlier.

If Blake was added to the mix, the Uchiha doubted the Rinnegan could recharge fast enough to make it in time to leave the city. Especially since he needed to go the extra distance to cover his direction.

The memories of the clones he made came back to him, recalling the dull chase he had orchestrated for a diversion. Even as clones, they were smart and sentient enough to know when it was pointless to exist and dispelled themselves.

As he landed on the river after jumping off the cliff, he heard his assistant's voice say, " _all forces began diverging on Beacon and its surrounding area, the large ships began forming a perimeter around it. Seems that someone told the authorities of your latest position._ "

This, of course, was more trouble. The massive airships had an equally massive technological difference compared to its smaller counterpart, which means ever more extensive and powerful sensors. Those were what Sasuke needed to be wary of the most when trying to exfiltration himself and Claire out of Vale.

Sasuke reached the commercial district quickly, but had to dodge the plethora of ships that swarmed overhead. Making more use of his **Amenotejikara** more than he liked to.

Fortunately, the buildings that now surround him had better use for him as it held many hiding spots that he could make use of. Unfortunately, a few of those hiding spots were rendered unavailable from the amount of soldiers patrolling the areas in tight groups, keeping people attentive of anyone new or less. More often than not, the Uchiha would see a person amongst them that had the telltale signs of a Hunter.

These people he had to be wary of the most from those on the ground, due to their much better trained sensory and combat styles that could put entire battalions of soldiers to shame. Not to mention that semblances could be a real game changer, even if the ninja was sure he could manage, but he wasn't here to take part in a fight where there would be no benefit.

Sasuke reached the rooftop of Tucson's store relatively quickly, but later than he had hoped. The amount of patrols on both air and ground were extensive. Possibly brought in from other areas of Vale.

"Claire!" he called out once he entered the store, then spotted his assistant still sitting on her station still in the backroom, looking to her caller. "We're leaving Vale. Burn everything that's important, we must leave quickly."

They didn't have the luxury of taking things with them at the moment, so the next best thing was to remove anything compromising from existence.

The Faunus blinked for a moment, but finally asked, "but, sir, what about Blake? Shouldn't we stay here until it blows over and try again?"

When all of Vale was being swept like this for the Uchiha, door-to-door searching and checks would happen. Once they found out that the original owner was no longer present, they'd be swarming the store with as many Huntsmen and Huntresses as possible.

Both of them could possibly wait a day or two before trying once more, even use his transformation to be Tucson against the police who would be none the wiser. However, he could no longer take Blake from Beacon. The Uchiha very much doubted that Ozpin would be ignorant against the ninja's strategy of using the cameras' blind spots, and would surely fix that.

Not only that, but the headmaster would wonder how Sasuke achieved knowledge of them, so the natural response was to search everything that had to do with the security cameras, including the local sever room. Sasuke could only guess what new fortifications would be added.

"No, we will leave immediately," the ninja replied. "Do as I ordered quickly." Time was of the essence. With every second they stuck around, the more ground the authorities have covered.

With pursed lips, Claire turned back to her computer and typed a few commands, which led to everything electronic in the room begin fizzling into a shower of sparks. "All circuits burned, and all memory files destroyed, sir," Claire informed neutrally. She had hopes of this mission being a success, but some third party became involved at the wrong time.

All Sasuke did was nod. "Let's head back to Mount Glenn."

* * *

As it turned out, leaving Vale was a tad more difficult that the Uchiha had expected. Either it was from carrying his assistant, who was suspiciously pleased with the idea, or that the armed forces covered much more ground than he was comfortable with; it was a pain to find the microscopic hole in their perimeters.

Sasuke had to use his clones to misdirect the army and police from his true destination, he even had to take detours to confuse anyone that may have seen him. If he wanted to head east, he moved south. If he needed to go west, so he went north. Those kinds of detours.

If he were trace where he went on a map, it would be like a child's poor attempt to solve a maze puzzle. Lines overlapped, messy, and made no sense, with small gaps indicating the use of the **Amenotejikara**. Exactly how he wanted, even if it was a tiring experience.

"We have arrived," the Uchiha said as he stepped to the northern area of Mount Glenn. He then looked behind him and waited for his former assistant to come through the foliage.

Claire then walked through greenery, looking rather haggard and filthy from the trek. "How do you have the stamina for this?" she asked irritably again after pushing up her cracked glasses in place, for the twelfth time by the mercenary's count. She was a technician, her weapons were her keyboard and electronic equipment, physical exertion like this wasn't common in her job.

Instead of answering, he spotted more Grimm appearing from the alleyways between the buildings. They had been traveling for half a day in total, so finding the soulless creatures was expected, and so was their deaths by the Uchiha's hand. Claire had little combat experience, but killed her share of Grimm on the way with her pistol, even if that count was miniscule compared to the ninja's.

"Let's find the entrance to the cavern," he said without looking away from the pack of Beowulves that spotted them. "I would rather get this over and done with." Sasuke meant the debriefing with Adam, who didn't seem like the kind of person to take this news well.

When the dozen or so creatures roared and began running towards them, each one them took a few steps before an empowered kunai pierced through their bone masks and struck where the brain should be. Muscle movements ceased, causing them to ragdoll a few meters before turning into ash, as all Grimm do when they 'die'.

Claire nodded, she saw multiple times during their travel back to the hideout how Sasuke dealt with undesirables. If he wasn't carrying her to leave Vale and reach Mount Glenn faster, he was annihilating Grimm left and right.

By the way, experiencing his flickering technique for the first time wasn't pleasant, especially over long distances. She had to have him stop a few times to settle her stomach. The only reason she hadn't emptied her stomach the entire time was because it was cleared out from the first flicker break.

Even then, Claire couldn't help but enjoy the bridal carry a small bit. She asked the Uchiha to carry her on his back instead, but he argued that he was unsure if her grip strength could hold on from the G-force she was going to experience. She didn't argue.

"What do you intend to tell him?" the Faunus asked as they neared tunnel that would go into the ground.

"The truth," Sasuke replied evenly. Lying to an employer who could easily find out the truth was a very bad idea. The Uchiha had little doubt that news of Vale's situation would have reached the White Fang. _'Not having Blake would be a rather obvious detail of the outcome.'_

When they reached a makeshift gateway with two White Fang officers outside, who just lowered their weapons at the familiar ninja, the Uchiha ordered, "open the gate, I wish to debrief with Adam Taurus."

The one on the left nodded and radioed in the return of the mercenary and his demand, and the guard told the Uchiha that he should head to the briefing room at the train station. Mere seconds later, the gate vertically opened to allow them in, and the two did just that.

As Sasuke walked through the ruins to reach the impromptu headquarters, he still saw many White Fang members saluting him or simply ogle his form, as though seeing some form of legend. Or perhaps they heard of what happened in Vale and weren't expecting him to come back, which was more likely.

"Sasuke," the ninja heard Claire say informally as they neared the train station. The mission was over, and he was no longer on the clock, so his role as leader was over. When he looked to her, she continued, "I'll be heading to my quarters from here, so I wish you luck with Adam."

Claire knew that her Faunus leader may take this news badly, so she honestly hoped whatever happened wasn't too bad for her former boss. Especially how the relationship between Blake and Adam were before the desertion.

The Uchiha gave her an appreciative nod, then watched as Claire bowed her head before going to wherever her place was in this underground city. In all honesty, she wasn't a bad assistant and was certainly helpful.

As Sasuke walked through the familiar building, he heard a familiar voice behind him say, "back so soon? Can't really blame you with all the trouble that happened."

When the ninja looked to the source, he found Neopolitan in her multi-colored wonder. "Neo," he greeted. "Things happened that weren't in my control. It was either exfiltration or capture, and I chose the former."

He was disappointed that he wouldn't get his monumental amount of Dust, but did feel a very small sense of relief that he wouldn't have to hand Blake over to the Faunus leader at the moment. _'All in good time,'_ Sasuke told himself with a sigh.

Neo nodded at that. Even she hadn't known about Cinder's mission conflicting with the Uchiha's, but that excuse wouldn't really carry weight with Adam. Especially since he was particularly excited about the reunion, which was no longer happening.

"I would rather not keep Adam waiting," he dryly told the petite woman, who giggled a bit from the sarcasm.

This time, however, she shook her head and told him, "you know that he won't be pleased with this, right?"

The Uchiha nodded, then continued walking towards the room where he was given the mission. He didn't need to turn to know Neo began walking with him. "It doesn't matter if he would be or not. The fact is that the mission is a failure, and I may need to get Blake through different means."

He may be relieved that he wouldn't hand over Blake, but it irked him that his perfect record on Remnant was tarnished. This may mean he could be hired a second time, so perhaps all wasn't lost.

Often, it was the reputation that helped win battles. The Uchiha clan had an infamous reputation to ninjas outside of Konoha, and that helped them win the psychological aspect of battles. Stealing ones hard earned techniques at a glance with the Sharingan makes things that much more frustrating for the opponent.

And thus, stories and legends about the Uchiha clan came to be, and with that, the unsaid disclaimer to avoid fighting them when possible. So Sasuke hoped his useful reputation on Remnant wasn't damaged beyond repair.

Sasuke found the door for the debriefing room, and sighed once more. _'Considering my recent luck, I might have to be prepared.'_ Emotions cloud the mind if rampant, so what would happen if a certain zealot was denied his desired object?

Nothing pretty could come of it.

He opened the door and walked through with Neo by his side. Inside, Sasuke could see the Lieutenant leaning on the wall with his weapon by him, Roman off to the side and staying out of the picture. And studying the map facing away from the ninja was the Faunus leader himself.

And he seemed rather agitated.

"So, how did the mission go?" Adam asked simply while still staring at the map, recalling the plan he had with Cinder. "I don't see Blake with you. Is she somewhere else?" That condescending question might as well mean 'I know you failed, child, but I want to hear it from you'.

That set the Uchiha on edge. "She remains at Beacon," he replied normally, but was ready for any violent reaction to come his way. "The mission was a failure."

At that, Adam casually reached for the sword he had propped on the wall beside him, and simply held it in one hand, all while still not turning to face the ninja. The Uchiha activated the Sharingan in response, but did not move from his spot.

If Adam wanted to kill him, he had another thing coming.

Sasuke saw the Lieutenant push himself off the wall, but did no other move other than that, his chainsaw still in reach. The Uchiha then looked to the other side and saw that Roman gulped, and Neo was frowning with her umbrella in hand and ready to be used. At least he had back up from one person.

The redhead turned to face the ninja, with the hilt of his sword aimed towards his target's head. "Tell me," Adam began unpleasantly. "How did you fail such a _simple_ mission?"

The shinobi narrowed his eyes, preparing to take action. "An explosion at the CCT tower," he informed, Sharingan still flared. "A third party became involved at the wrong time in conflict with my own and had fouled all the planning I had prepared in the _midst_ of taking Blake."

It was the last bit that caused for Adam to scowl heavily, before it immediately flashed back to neutrality. Sasuke saw it all thanks to the power his eyes granted him. He saw how the leader was irritated, but it became directed elsewhere when the red sword's hilt was longer aimed towards Sasuke. Well, it turned out the excuse went better than he expected.

Adam would have a word with a certain Fall. It was convenient that he was headed to the capital within a few minutes. He merely wanted to see if he should've taken care of the Uchiha before then.

"We're done here," the Faunus leader said angrily as he walked passed the Uchiha and Neo, with the Lieutenant in tow.

The large Faunus slammed the door behind him, and continued following his leader, who was going to leave Mount Glenn for Vale. The Lieutenant would be the one in charge of the White Fang members during that time.

A few seconds of silence later, Roman sighed in relief. "Glad that's over," he said, then looked to the mercenary. "Can't say I'm disappointed of _not_ paying you with all that Dust."

When Adam left, Sasuke began relaxing his body and deactivated his Sharingan. He looked to Roman and said, "as long as he wants Blake, I may still get payed that amount for a later mission, Roman." He might ask for more with the increased risk factor, as well.

The thief deflated slightly at that. He was honestly hoping the mercenary's due wouldn't be an issue any longer. Again, he had to remind himself that it wasn't his Dust in the first place, even if he did work hard to procure it.

"What's next on my mission list, Roman?" Sasuke suddenly asked.

Neo blinked a few times, then comprehended what her companion had just asked. Even the thief was on the same boat as her.

"Wait, you want to go on a mission right now?" Roman finally responded. "Didn't you just come back from Vale?" And that journey began over twelve hours ago. So Sasuke was either being reckless, or he had far more stamina than humanly possible.

The mission's failure was fresh in the Uchiha's mind still, and so was the loss of that much Dust. He knew he should rest, but he had to have something to gain, something to make up for all the work that ended up failing, damn it!

No, he needed to rest, even if for a short while. What would his friends back home think of him attempting to burn himself out? Sasuke couldn't be reckless, he needed to have a fresh body and mind for the next mission. His body could only survive on the few soldier pills he had for so long.

 _'Right. . .'_ Sasuke thought with a tired sigh, and went to leave the room. "Prepare a mission for me when I come back later on." He could sleep for an hour, then Roman would find a series of stores or unlucky airships for him to rob. . . at the same time.

But for now, some sleep would do some good.

* * *

 _'438. . . 439. . .440,'_ the Uchiha mentally counted the amount of pull ups during the afternoon, while using one of the monkey bars located in a playground of the ruined underground city. His eyes twitched in annoyance as he continued, _'498- Ignore them- 499. . . 500!'_ And with that, he dropped down from the bars.

The shirtless Uchiha walked to one of the broken benches, picked up his towel, and used it to get rid of the sweat that coated him. He looked around him, and saw Neopolitan smiling away with that far off look in her eyes while absently twirling her umbrella. Every time he went to exercise, she was always there watching him, but her mind was elsewhere.

But not only her as Sasuke could see small lens flares from the windows of the surrounding buildings. When the White Fang women weren't with him in his training classes, they would take the opportunity to watch, or photograph, the dashing Uchiha glisten with sweat some more.

As he heard them mention around the base far too often.

And this situation started happening ever since he came to Mount Glenn. Fortunately for his fans here, this was the only semi-intact playground for him to use for physical training, so they knew where to find him. And unfortunately for the ninja, he had to give conscious effort to ignore their lustful eyes. He didn't have to use the Human Path to know what they were thinking.

 _'Would the_ _ **Human**_ _Path even work on Faunus?'_ he pondered, then shook his head. _'Absorbing people's souls may not be well received. . . especially for experimentation.'_ He would use it if it was needed, but such a situation never came up.

He often wondered if it _was_ actually the soul being absorbed, or rather the entire manifestation of the person's Chakra, or if it was actually the soul but it passed through the Rinnegan user as proxy before it headed to the afterlife. It was of the few interesting questions about these archaic eyes that could never be answered.

"What news do you bring, Neo?" Sasuke asked as he put his shirt back on. This woman was devious, and would always have something of importance to mention when he called her out. As if to say 'I have news to tell you, but I didn't want to bother your exercising', and it would've been convincing if she wasn't eyeing him the entire time.

It seemed that even Neopolitan had hormones. . . Or just an overactive imagination of fighting with Sasuke by her side. At least, he assumed it was by her side.

"Hmmm?" she sounded while snapping back to reality. "Roman wants to talk to you by the train." Sasuke knew that she could have simply called him on his Scroll, but Neo liked to be Neo.

It had been a week since the flop of his mission at Vale, and the Uchiha spent most of that time stealing Dust left and right from multiple cities. Torchwick said that the jobs were meant to be focused in Vale, but they needed to steal from other places to keep the Uchiha employed.

Sasuke nodded to Neo. "Let's go then," he said, then looked to where the windows where the Faunus women 'spying' on him were. _'It would be best to increase the intensity of their training regimen. . . again.'_ He could punish them in his own way, and even get paid to do it.

"What's new on Vale?" the Uchiha asked as he walked by his companion's side. "Surely there have been updates since the mission." An explosion at _the_ CCT tower wasn't something simple or normal.

Shrugging, Neo replied, "well, they know it wasn't you who caused the explosion at the tower. That girl, Blake, certainly affirmed that for you." Then she giggled a bit. "It turns out it was one of the students who caused it. A blonde girl named Yang, who claimed that she was chasing 'Sasuke' into the CCT." She left Cinder's involvement out.

That confirmed Sasuke's third party theory, but was somewhat surprised that Yang turned out to be the cause for the explosion within an important building like the CCT tower. It certainly fit her style, though.

The Uchiha shook his head. _'She should've been more careful,'_ he thought. And not only because he would have been able to kidnap Blake if the brawler had been more cautious. "So no new action from the authorities had been taken?"

"I was told that half of the Atlesian force left Vale and headed back home recently, but that's about it," Neopolitan replied as they neared where the train was placed. "Can't imagine why. . ." It might be because of the increased Gaara sightings throughout Vale.

Sasuke had been in a bit of overdrive these past few days, feeling that he was cheated out of his Dust by fate, and that he had to make up for his loss.

Finding Roman by the train, berating the Faunus for doing the jobs in an inefficient fashion, he called out, "Roman, do you have a mission for me?" Considering the overdrive, he had been meeting constantly with Roman, who always had a new mission in hand.

Torchwick turned away from Perry, whoever he was, and began addressing the ninja. "Are you the real deal or a clone?" he asked. There was one time where he met four Sasukes merely minutes apart asking for a job, and it was a very weird and confusing experience.

"I'm the original," he answered simply, to which Roman sighed in relief. "Is there something else you have for me?" Another mission would be nice, even though he was to train the troops today as his current job. All his clones had done their latest jobs, so he could take on a few more.

Pointing towards the train behind him, the man in the bowler hat said, "until the time comes for it to leave, you're gonna be protecting the train and its contents."

The Uchiha took a good long look at the massive train. He hadn't seen trains in his own world for transport like Remnant's, besides the one that tried to kill him and his team in Land of Snow, but the one in front of him was much larger than that of Yukigakure's.

Hopefully, this one had less nefarious intentions against him.

"When will it leave?" Sasuke asked. If he's gonna be on the clock to protect some old train, he might as well know how long he's going to get paid for.

Roman looked thoughtful and rubbed his chin in thought, then finally said, "probably in a few d-" He was interrupted when an explosion shook the earth beneath his and everyone else's feet. "What the hell was that!?" he exclaimed.

There was another rumble, but this one was followed by gunfire from somewhere within the underground city.

Unsealing his sword, the shinobi placed the sheathed blade back in its proper position, ready to be used on whoever gets in his way. Sasuke spent no time to activate his Sharingan, but saw nothing but bullets flying through the air in the distance.

"Sir!" shouted one of the Fang member, who was pushing the radio deeper into his ear to listen. "It's the Atlesians, they're attacking the base!"

Well, it seemed that half of the fleet that went home had another place in mind. Sasuke could only guess how they found out about the hideout in Mount Glenn, but he could ponder the 'how' at a later date, when they weren't being raided.

"Everybody, move out!" Sasuke heard Roman shout out an order, and then berated a Faunus for the train not being completely ready. Then he leapt onto the train, and looked to the mercenary. "You too, get on the train."

It probably would have been better if the Uchiha stayed back to hold them off, then regroup with Torchwick's group later, but apparently, the cargo was that important.

Sasuke heard the gunfire drawing closer, so he and Neo jumped onto the train just as it began moving into the tunnel. Last he heard, the tunnel was closed off by debris, but it seemed the White Fang cleared it out if these people were confident in going in with a train. Not exactly a good idea if a dead end was all that awaited them.

Unbeknownst to the ones in the train, four students and a professor discreetly jumped on top of the massive vehicle. Thanks to the White Fang concentrating on the Atlesian forces, these five were able to sneak around the insurgents and find the wanted fugitives, Sasuke Uchiha and Roman Torchwick.

Back in the train, the ninja saw White Fang people moving around crates and barrels. He didn't bother asking what made this cargo so important, it wasn't his place to question orders, but that didn't stop the small nag in his mind of something was not quite right.

"Keep moving the crates," Sasuke heard as he passed the Lieutenant ordering his troops. Whatever was in these boxes, they must have been important enough to hire the mercenary _and_ have the leading officer in the area here to protect it.

Just when he was leaving the car to the next, the Uchiha noticed two masked Faunus move a large, wired-up device on top of the crates the others moved. He didn't get a good look at it, but his instincts didn't like it.

Every car Sasuke, Neo, and Roman passed were the same, where large crates were stacked on top of each other, except the open car that held a few of the Paladins.

When they entered the driver's car, the thief asked aloud to the crew operating and driving the train, "what's the situation back at Mount Glenn?"

"The Atlesians took control of the city, sir," the masked woman at the comms said without turning around. "We're on our own for-" She suddenly went quiet, which was not usually something good. "Huntsmen on the back of train!" she shouted and relayed what a few guards reported.

That disgruntled Roman. Dealing with soldiers were easy, but Hunters were another thing entirely. "Then decouple the cargo and detonate," he ordered.

 _'Detonate?'_ the Uchiha repeated in his mind with raised brows. _'What is this cargo?'_ When he turned to address it, he saw that Roman ordered Neo to go back and guard one of the cars, who nodded then vanished in a flash of light. "Roman, what's in this train?"

The thief looked to him and said simply, "bombs. We're gonna open a way for-" He stopped talking when one of the train cars that were decoupled exploded, shaking the cab they were in.

Sasuke, not liking what he heard from Roman and the sound, peered out one of the windows, ignored the wind whipping his hair, and saw a large hole in the tunnel's ceiling. Dropping down from the hole, a large amount of Grimm of varying species. And he knew this was only one of many explosions to come.

There were more than enough cars connected to this train.

Pulling his head back inside, Sasuke peered his Sharingan eyes to Roman again, who had his back turned to talk with the one at the comms. He asked again, "what are the bombs for, Roman?"

Torchwick didn't even look back. "We're paving way for Grimm to get into the center of Vale," he said evenly, like it was obvious. "Now go to the cars in the back and stop the Huntsman from reaching here."

Sasuke remembered then the promise of destroying Konoha and the ones responsible for Itachi's death within it, disregarding everything else for the sake of his justice, for his revenge.

For his obsession, he would destroy a whole village and people's livelihood for what he perceived was justice. Today, he still didn't like the elders for what they've done with Itachi, they were a constant reminder whenever he saw them. But if the last Uchiha followed the urge to kill them, would he fall deeper and develop the urge to destroy Konoha as well?

"No," Sasuke replied resolutely. He would steal Dust even from the poorest child, he would mutilate those who impeded him, he would kill anybody that got in his way. . . but he won't be the cause for a nationwide mass murder, especially in a world where if people escaped to outside the walls, they would be doomed regardless.

He wouldn't just be destroying Vale if allowed his, Sasuke would be destroying a fourth of an entire civilization. Much larger than simply destroying one of the many villages back in his own world. _'Could I say that I killed an entire kingdom to rejoin them? Would they accept me still?'_

If he followed through, every time he saw his family back home, Sasuke would also see the thousands on top of thousands of the lives he was involved in ruining. This was something Naruto, and Kakashi specifically, would see, and one that they will find out if they were persistent enough. From the Uchiha himself, no less.

"Wait, what?" Roman said as he whipped his head to the ninja's direction in shock, having never heard of him refusing a command. "Hey, if you want to get your Dust, you better follow orders."

The two Faunus, comms officer and driver, in there with them were also surprised, as both had been on missions with Sasuke, and both of them knew how efficient the Uchiha liked to be. Especially how effective and loyal he was to the job he was given.

The shinobi stepped forward, approaching closer the thief, who had gripped Melodic Cudgel. "No," Sasuke said again. Another explosion of a train car shook the floor. "Of all the jobs you have given me, I can't allow you to succeed with this one, Roman. And as for the Dust. . ."

Eyeing the ninja, Roman asked, "what're- _Agh!_ " He was slammed into the back with Uchiha's hand around his throat.

Just then Sasuke heard two distinct clicks of guns cocking. He was expecting the two Faunus to resist, so with electric Chakra in his muscles speeding up his reflexes, he unsealed a kunai, empowered it with wind, slashed the throat of the comms officer nearest to him, and threw it towards the head of the driver, piercing through the mask.

"Now that we're alone," Sasuke began, glaring at Roman, but was interrupted when gurgling and choking sounds were heard. When he looked to the source, it was the Faunus responsible for communication on the floor, who tore her mask away in attempt to help what breathing she was still capable of. _'Claire. . .'_

Roman took this distraction as an opportunity shoot a Dust round at the controls, disabling any way to stop this speeding behemoth. His smirk of stopping the ninja was met with a fast, augmented fist to his temple, knocking him out quickly.

Turning back to his former assistant on the ground, seeing that it was indeed her. That brown hair and frightened brown eyes belonged to no other. She wheezed for air while grasping the bleeding gash to futilely stop the flow of blood going down her throat, drowning her lungs in her own blood. She turned her scared eyes to the ninja, her former boss, her eyes begged him for help.

Sasuke unsealed another knife, which widened her tearing eyes further, knowing well what would happen. He didn't have time to throw her in the King of Hell on this speeding train, which was emphasized with another explosion, so he ignored the arm she raised to stop him, imbued the kunai with electric Chakra to make it quick and painless as possible.

And that was it, a single throw of the knife between her eyes, and Claire was no longer suffering. Her muscles stiffened as the electric Chakra coursed through her body, then she went limp. And that was the end of it all.

With a sigh, Sasuke dropped the unconscious Roman from his grasp, and unsealed ninja wire to tie him up. He would need him alive to take the Dust he needed. The Uchiha only hoped that this last ditch one-shot would end his time on Remnant and return him to his home, without the need to slaughter countless civilians and the destruction of a whole kingdom.

The Uchiha heard the door to his car open, and an ever familiar feminine angry voice stated, "I thought I'd find you here." How could he forget this woman from his time at Beacon.

Without turning to look, Sasuke greeted, "hello, Coco."

This time, the Uchiha did turn to see the person who entered the driver's car. Indeed, she looked angry, then she looked around to see two still-bleeding corpses, and an unconscious Roman Torchwick. "You've been busy, haven't you?" she rhetorically asked, gripping her handbag tighter, ready for a fight.

"I will be, that is for certain," he replied casually. "I need to stop this train, Coco. So don't get in my way." He didn't doubt that she wanted that as well, but he wondered if she would even listen to a criminal. He wanted to try, at least.

The fashionista eyed him carefully, making sure not to look at his red eyes. Looking him in the eye made a lot of problems, as the statements from those effected had indicated. "Why should I believe you?" she retorted unpleasantly. "You know what you did."

"I do, and I will take responsibility for it," he replied simply with a half-truth. "Now are you going to _attempt_ to stop me, or do you want to stop this caboose that will be the cause of many people's deaths?" His statement was again emphasized by another explosion, which made another hole to bring more Grimm into the tunnel.

When he stopped the train from bringing in Grimm to massacre the people of Vale, then that would count as taking responsibility in Sasuke's book, but he didn't plan on being arrested. In fact, he didn't plan on staying in Remnant for more than twelve hours now.

She kept eyeing him, doing her best to see if he was lying, but she simply couldn't find an indication that he was. ". . . If you run away afterwards, I'm not gonna stop chasing you," Coco coldly told the Uchiha, who simply nodded and relived a familiar memory from back home.

"Where are the controls?" she asked Sasuke, who pointed towards the destroyed equipment, which had her scowl. "Then do you have a plan?" She loosened her grip on her weapon, but stayed ready for anything the traitor could do against her if he suddenly became aggressive.

Well, he didn't think that far ahead just yet, but he had a few ideas that could be used. "I need to get topside," he told her. "Now would be best."

It was Coco's turn to nod. "Alright, we can collect my team while we're on our way, and even professor Port if he's up there still," she stated. "Might even help you, too." Unlikely, but the thought was appreciated. She stepped aside for the Uchiha to pass through the door. "You stay in front of me. I don't trust you just yet."

Sasuke had the urge to roll his eyes, but didn't act on it. He took up her offer and walked forward through the doors first, but not before he looked to Claire's dead body one more time.

He wanted to apologize, but that would mean he regretted killing her, that he would avoid it if there was a second chance. But he couldn't, he would end her life again if it was required of him. He only regretted that the Faunus was on that side while he was on the other, his own side.

It was ironic. The Uchiha took Claire when the mission in Vale was botched instead of Blake because he chose comrades over the mission, just like how Kakashi had taught him. But now, he had to kill that very same person for the reason of saving a whole kingdom. Where that would fit in Kakashi's code, Sasuke wasn't sure.

She was a master technician and loyal to the cause for equality, even to her last dying breath. He muttered a silent goodbye and thanks for her help, and with that, it was the last he would ever see of Claire Durand.

Walking through the door first, the Uchiha had to ask, "how did you find the base?"

Coco, while still alert if the ninja would try anything, answered, "can't tell you that, because we were only told to join the Atlesian force to get you." Which was true. Plus, they didn't ask how Ozpin knew the information, team CFVY were merely told to accompany Peter Port and assist in the raid of Mount Glenn.

And when they heard that Sasuke might be there, the team leader and the Faunus member became strangely driven to accept this mission from their headmaster. The mission itself was to join the fleet, and bring in Sasuke if possible. So it was a pleasant surprise when they found a few kunai around on the ground of the aboveground city, possibly a week-old from the dust these knives collected.

Sasuke just nodded. He hadn't really expected information from Coco to begin with, but it didn't hurt to try. Ozpin possibly knew a bit more than he let on, also. But he left further investigation about that for a much later time.

The closer they got to the other car, the louder both Coco and Sasuke heard metal on metal striking one another, but with the added sound of a motor.

Entering the next car, the Uchiha found Fox and the Lieutenant fighting one another, both of their weapons locked onto each other, neither giving the other leverage. But when the redhead reared his free arm for a punch, the more experienced insurgent used the shift of weight of his opponent and made him stumble forward.

And as the Faunus descended his chainsaw towards his opponent, he was suddenly kicked in the side of the head by the ninja, and was kicked away from his striking his opponent. The attack sent him flying to the other side of the car.

Shaking the spots away and looking forward, the White Fang Lieutenant became infuriated from the attacker. " _Uchiha_ ," he said as though it was poison, and stood back up with his weapon still in hand. "You would betray us this far into the mission? Can't say I'm surprised from a _mercenary_."

He wasn't wrong, per se, since a merc's loyalty was only dependable as far as he was paid, but this wasn't about money or Dust. "You're right, Lieutenant," the Uchiha said, drawing his sword from its sheath. "You shouldn't be surprised, but you should be concerned." He pointed the tip of his blade towards the large Faunus. "Especially if you were to get in my way. Move, I have a place I need to be."

Instead of replying, the large man revved up his weapon, eliciting a loud noise of the engine. "Traitors of the White Fang have only one place to go," he said threateningly.

"Except I am not of the White Fang," the ninja replied, then looked to the two of team CFVVFY behind him. Coco helped Fox up, and stood away the fight that was about to take place. The Uchiha turned back to his opponent, and clarified, "I never was. Only a sword for hire, as I always was." And that was true outside of Remnant, as well.

"Are you going to fight me and die?" the ninja asked, sword beginning to glow a pale blue color from the lightning Chakra empowering it. "Or will you run away and live." He never fought with the Lieutenant, but he was confident that he could handle a simple brute.

The Faunus gave an angry growl, enraged in the fact that he knew he would mostly likely lose, especially when he remembered the story of his fight with the Atlesian specialist. But more than that, this _child_ in front of him believed so as well.

Gritting his teeth, the Lieutenant brought his weapon to bear. "Come, Uchiha, and let me show you what we do to your kind!" he shouted, allowing this child the first move, more so because the Faunus' back was at the wall, so he couldn't be attacked him from behind. He knew the mercenary was rather fond of that style.

Sasuke only raised a single brow at that, but surprised everyone when he sheathed Kusanagi back in its place. His intimidation didn't really work. "Are you underestimating me, boy!?" the White Fang insurgent yelled angrily. The Uchiha didn't answer, merely went to seals and stuck his right arm across his chest.

Coco was confused why the shinobi put away his sword, but that changed to a low whistle when his hand became coated with lightning, sparking violently while lighting up the area with its pale blue light, and the noise of thousands of birds chirping filled the room.

Looking towards the insurgent, noticing the relative short range between each other, Sasuke said, " **Chidori Senbon.** " And whipped his hand horizontally, sending a rain of electrical needles towards his opponent.

This surprised the large man, catching him off-guard, and brought his weapon to block what he could, but his bulky and muscled body could only move so fast, and blocked only the bare minimum possible. " _Gah!_ " he exclaimed reflexively as needles struck his body, turning him into pin cushion, unaware of the numbing effect these had. He also wasn't aware that only a few struck since most were blocked by his Aura shields before it broke.

The Lieutenant wanted to drop his guard and eye the ninja, but was incapable when his body wouldn't respond to his command. Each electric needle that hit him kept fluctuating an electric charge, paralyzing the nerve spots of the few these needles were embedded in.

"Stay there, Lieutenant," the Uchiha said as he began walking past the paralyzed Faunus. "I'm certain that many people would be interested in having you imprisoned, and I intend to trade you in for a pardon." That last statement was a lie since he won't be in Remnant long enough, but it was more so to anger the irritating man.

The statement succeeded in enraging the Faunus, as his muscles were flexing in effort release himself from his acupuncture-like binds, only managing an angry, animalistic growl thanks to the senbon on the side of his neck. Sasuke was unaware of the Aura that was slowly being gathered for one large pulse to remove the electric needles. But it would take time, long after the Uchiha left.

Turning back to look at the two of team CFVY standing by the door, and noticed the neutral look of Fox, and the rather impressed look of Coco's. "Come on," he told them dryly. "Unless you want this train to reach Vale." Sasuke didn't mind people admiring his work, but it wasn't the time to be surprised.

Coco blinked, then huffed, then looked to him with a small smirk. "I swear you're the same no matter what," she said, then looked to her teammate. "Let's get going, Fox." The other member of CFVY nodded, and followed his leader.

He didn't wait for them, Sasuke continued on his way with knowledge the two were behind him. Both of which were watching him closely if he tried anything, even though he knew that he could leave them at any moment of any given time. Whether they knew that also was irrelevant.

Nearing the car where more sounds of fighting was taking place, the Uchiha prepared to fight the only other combatant worth mentioning on this train, Neopolitan. Now this one was going to be vastly different compared to the brute force type of fighter the Lieutenant was, since Neo was more of a ninja than most of who he had met on Remnant.

That was beside the point of her being completely unpredictable at times, but the Sharingan should help him in that aspect. And if needed, the Rinnegan if her illusions were being finicky. He hadn't actually tried to see if the Rinnegan made him immune against Aura-based illusions, so a trial by fire was in order.

The closer they came to the next car they were about to enter, again, they heard sounds of combat. But not the same metal on metal he heard when he interrupted Fox's fight with the Lieutenant.

As he entered the car before the two behind him, Sasuke saw Neo fighting with her sword against Velvet, who was kicking and dodging what she could. And he had to admit, the Faunus, who was without a weapon, was doing rather well with keeping up with the small woman. Possibly because they were both agility-based fighters.

"Neo," the Uchiha called out, which brought him the attention of both of the fighting women. One looked to him with surprise, and the other with a small smile, thinking he took care of the ones who passed her.

"Hmm?" the fashionista sounded as she entered the car after the ninja, and saw how the fight between Velvet and shorty stopped dead in its tracks. But more so, was the shock on the small woman's face when she saw the two of team CFVY alive and well. "Whose winning?"

Neo looked to her 'friend' with a hope for an explanation, but only received a shake of his head. She wouldn't get an explanation or excuse, it's clear what was happening.

Taking out his sword, the Uchiha was ready to fight her, but was surprised when his former companion merely sheathed her own blade, and leaned on the wall in a relaxed stance.

"Where you go, I go," Neopolitan said in a rare moment of loyalty. "After all, we _are_ friends." The way she said that sounded a lot more sinister than it should be. Whether she was still loyal to the employer and meant to spy on him or was actually on the Uchiha's side, he wasn't sure, but the Sharingan caught no sign of lying, as odd as it was.

After a few short seconds of contemplation, Sasuke nodded, which brought a nice, and seemingly, innocent smile from his pink-haired comrade.

"Uh, what just happened?" Velvet asked in her confusion, while still in her own battle stance. Could a fight seriously end with so few words? Even though the Uchiha only called out a name once.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I think Sasuke here has this little girl as a new friend," Coco said with mild surprise. This young'un certainly didn't seem like friendship material compared to the ninja's character.

Neo looked like she wanted to reply, but was silenced by the small glare Sasuke had given her and mouthed 'quiet', wary of what this little sociopath might say to ruin things. So instead of saying anything, she only made the motion of zipping her mouth. Hopefully, she'd stay quiet until this whole thing blows over.

"I would rather not prolong this any further," the Uchiha said, and brought the attention back to him. He looked to Coco and stated, "unless more of your teammates is on this train, I think it's time to continue."

The fashionista shook her head. "Yatsuhashi's with Port above the train, holding off the White Fang from coming in and stopping us," she replied, to which Sasuke nodded, accepting her answer.

Waiting, the ninja motioned for Neo to walk in front of him, in order to keep an eye on her if she tried in anything crafty. If she knew that, she didn't say or do anything to indicate so, and walked ahead of him to the gap between the cars.

"Sasuke," he heard Velvet call for him before he followed Neo, and turned to see what she wanted. "Are you on our side or theirs?" She sounded hopeful, but also cautious at the same time. So far, team CFVY had the right mindset when dealing with the shinobi, or any shinobi for that matter.

You can trust them on certain moments, but always question their loyalty regardless of the help they give. They lie, cheat, steal, and kill, so one must never trust a ninja fully.

His red eyes peering into the Faunus' brown, and stated, "for me, there is only one side I am on." She didn't look pleased with that answer, maybe even a little disheartened. "However, as of this moment, we both share the same goal." Her drooped ears rose quite a bit at that statement. "What you think of me after today, Velvet, may change again at one point in the near future."

And with that, the Uchiha turned to continue on his way, leaving a more content rabbit Faunus behind. "I bet you liked that he said your name," Coco quipped wryly from behind her teammate, to which Fox nodded silently in agreement.

"S-Shut up!" Velvet demanded embarrassedly, not willing to agree with her statement. "I'm just glad he isn't as bad people make him out to be."

The team leader just shrugged in response. "Whatever you say, Velvet," she said casually, ignoring her defense, even though she was also glad that it seemed to be the case, even if not fully. "Let's just get going."

Following their team leader's order, they followed her outside, where there was a gap between the cars. She saw both Sasuke and his little friend waiting for them outside.

"I would have thought you went ahead of us," Coco commented through the wind whipping past them. "Or, you know, run away."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that second one. "If you weren't with us, I doubt Port or Yatsuhashi would believe me to mean them no harm," he replied. They would most likely think that he killed the ones who were in the train, so he was forced to wait a few precious seconds if he wanted the meeting with his former professor and the remaining member of CFVY to go civilly.

". . . Good point," the fashionista replied, coming to the same conclusion as the Uchiha. "Alright then, up you go." She pointed towards the ladder beside them, but he ignored it and leapt up to the roof of the train, with Neo following shortly after. "Show off. . ."

Above the train, Sasuke could see Peter port standing guard with Yatsuhashi by his side, both with their backs turned facing the back of the train, and keeping an eye on any Fang insurgents. He then looked to his side, seeing Neo smiling away quietly. The Uchiha didn't know for sure why she was so silent all of a sudden, but he wasn't complaining.

"Hey, Yatsuhashi, Professor Port!" Coco called out from behind the ninja, with the other two of CFVY behind her, three of them finally climbed up the ladder to the roof of the fast moving train.

Both of the infiltration group looked to the fashionista, and widened their eyes at the sight of two rather distinct individuals, one specifically known for being the enemy.

So when Port readied his weapon to shoot, Coco got in his line of sight and waved for his attention. "Whoa whoa, hold on Professor!" she shouted quickly. "He's on our side." She left the 'almost' part out, but it wasn't a lie if the Uchiha was to be believed; which she kinda did.

Port kept his weapon aimed, even at his student. "How do I know your actually my students, and not some disguised copy of the Uchiha's?" he said accusingly when he saw three of his students, but didn't want to risk shooting if it was indeed her. His accusation had the large student beside him grip his sword harder, ready for a fight.

 _'Because I could have killed you with your backs turned,'_ the Uchiha thought, and believed it sounded reasonable, but kept quiet about it.

Coco actually gave it some thought, then looked to Yatsuhashi. "I know you like flexing your muscles when girls give you attention," she said, which had the large young man splutter in indignation. Then she looked to her teacher and stated, "and you attempted to flirt with me in my first year." It was one of those memories that just wouldn't leave her no matter how much she tried.

The professor scrunched up his face, and a few moments of silence followed. "Ha ha!" Peter suddenly shouted in jubilation and lowered his weapon. "It is indeed you, my fine student!"

If he was anybody else, Sasuke would have face faulted at the casual acceptance of sexual harassment. Not only that, but apparently, that was all it took to convince this experienced and veteran Huntsman that Coco was actually Coco.

"Now then, Coco," Peter began. "What is this I hear about Sasuke Uchiha being on our side?" He made sure to keep an eye on the ninja, in case he was up to anything. Especially that small woman by his side.

The fashionista sighed in relief. "He wants to stop the train, just like we do," she informed to the professor, who nodded, but took her words with a grain of salt. Then she turned to the ninja. "You have a plan, though, right?" Stopping a train this massive at this speed with busted controls wasn't exactly easy for team CFVY.

He was about to respond, but was cut off when he felt Neo tug on his shirt. When the Uchiha looked to her for an explanation, she pointed towards what was in front of the train, and saw something extremely worrisome, a dead end. And the train they were on wasn't slow in the least, so it was approaching rather quickly. And the others also followed his line of sight, causing them to gasp from how close the end was.

Neither of them knew they were that close. None of them knew the train was even going that fast and were nearing Vale. But thanks to his Sharingan's increased perception, it was possibly less than a minute away from collision. Sasuke needed to act fast if he were to save all of Vale.

"All of you hold on as tightly as possible," he said quickly to the group he was with, not tearing his sight away from the wall they were about to collide with, and sighed. "I have a plan I must enact alone." He really _hated_ the idea he came with.

"What're you plan-" Port stopped his question when the Uchiha vanished from sight. "Where did he go!?" he shouted, but then Neo, again, pointed forward ahead of the train. ". . . Oh no." Sasuke was a distance away from the head of the train, halfway of the distance that was left.

"What is he doing!?" Velvet exclaimed in fright. "He's going to get himself killed!" That sentiment was shared by the others. . . except one.

Neopolitan took out her sword and stabbed the metal roof, and then held on for dear life. Coco looked to her, then to her teammate, Yatsuhashi, who was staring back at her for instructions. Instead, Coco merely pointed towards the small woman, and nodded to her teammate, who nodded back and shoved his blade deep into the metal roof.

"Velvet, Fox, hang on to Yatsu," she ordered, and they followed, the three gripping what they could of their large friend's armor. "Professor, I think you can handle yourself, can't you?"

" _Hmph_ , who do you think I am?" Peter said and axed the floor with his weapon, equally giving it the tightest grip he could. "I have survived worse situations, I assure you." Coco wasn't sure to believe that, but didn't rebuke, since she focused on holding on to her teammate.

Ahead of the train, stood the ninja with closed eyes, with a repeated thought coming to mind, _'I_ _ **hate**_ _this plan.'_ He had to face a multi-hundred-ton train with momentum that was impossible to measure back in his home world _head on_.

The Rinnegan's Deva Path was out of the question; he didn't have the time to gather the Chakra needed to push away something that heavy and possessed that much force. If he had a minute, then he possibly could, but he only had a handful of seconds before this _behemoth_ of a train struck him.

So he saw only one solution that had a chance of succeeding. One that didn't involve simple nature manipulation, but one that he achieved after much pain and suffering.

After finally opening his eyes, revealing the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan filled with determination. With the familiar pain of his whole body, Sasuke Uchiha shouted, " **Susano'o!** "


	15. The Second Son Set Out

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 **Chapter 15, you'll change things. . .**

 **Loved this chapter. I Made it in less than two weeks from how excited I was to make it.**

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 **Clair Durand, Who Is Now Out Of Our Reach; May You Enjoy The Weather Of Heaven's Sunny Beach**

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 **Chapter Fifteen: The Second Son Set Out**

"What the hell is that!?" shouted a wide-eyed Coco, spotting the skeletal being that surrounded the Uchiha. Massive purple, flaming ribs, and skeletal arms don't just come out of nowhere. She only saw weird energy swirl around him, but that quickly took its skeletal form.

The team and professor wanted to shout more about this new development, but that was put on hold when the train slammed into the open arms of this ethereal. . . _thing_. It didn't stop, but the sudden deceleration and force flung all those on top and hanging onto something forward, gripping the person or weapon they were holding even tighter.

One person, unfortunately, didn't hang on tight enough to handle it and was flung forward.

"Velvet!" screamed a mortified Yatsuhashi, he watched his teammate shriek as she flew towards the front of the train. His fear turned to slight relief when a skeletal arm caught her midflight, but he knew it was far from over. "Why won't this damn train stop!"

Slowing didn't mean stopping, and neither did it mean they were slow either, it just meant they weren't as fast as before. Looking ahead of them, the team still saw the dead end quickly coming closer and closer.

Sasuke, attempting to slow down the train with one of his Susano'o arms, poured more Chakra into the appendage before they could slam into the wall ready to meet them, all the while holding onto his impromptu passenger with the other. Instead of holding Velvet in the skeletal arm, he quickly brought her into the ethereal ribcage for him to hold her bridal style before he completely focused on the train.

Putting her down may not have been the best move at the moment on unsteady ground, so Sasuke held Velvet until he deemed it safe for her. Especially since there was a train that was pushing through the cracking ribs of his early staged **Susano'o**.

"S-Sasuke!" Velvet called out through the noise, too busy staring at the train in her face that wanted to kill her than to be flustered at the position she was in. "What are we going to do!?" She wanted to look around, to see what the hell she was in, but death was staring her in the face.

It irritated the Uchiha in how time, once formerly his ally, was now quickly becoming a dangerous enemy at every passing second, and how the ground beneath him supporting his Susano'o's weight was simply too soft to stop the trench being made as they were pushed back by the metal monstrosity, ripping the tracks off the ground. It was slowing from the resistance it was facing, but not enough as it was still fast enough to crash into the wall closing in behind him.

Finally, the Chakra he was pouring into his technique began taking effect, enlarging the massive Chakra armor, granting it a horned skull-head with an eerie smile, larger size, and most importantly, stronger arms. It was still in its skeletal form, but it was strong enough to have stopped the ribs from cracking any further, partially from the momentum the train was steadily losing.

If he made the full-body **Susano'o** , the whole tunnel would collapse and defeat the whole purpose of stopping the train.

"I need to push the train to its side," the Uchiha replied calmly enough, which shocked the Faunus in his arms. There was no point in stopping the train anymore, it would hit the wall in a few seconds unless a miracle happened. But what he could do was add more resistance and get rid of its engine power from pushing it, making it solely move on what momentum remained.

And with the excess momentum dropping from even more resistance, Sasuke and the group would survive with less of a missile-on-tracks fighting them. Sasuke hoped the hole it would make wasn't large enough to bring Grimm to Vale.

"But what about the others!?" she retorted in worry. If the train tipped with them on it, her team and professor could be grievously harmed at best.

Sasuke didn't answer, he merely let his ethereal armor let go of the front of the train and let it hit the ribcage protecting him, making the head of the train move even closer to his body. A reckless move, but he needed both arms of the **Susano'o** to tip this massive train.

 _'Now the difficult part,'_ the Uchiha thought with thinned lips, flowing more power into it. The Chakra armor of his began gripping the train by its lower-side and roof, letting the skeletal hands dig into the metal plate, and began pushing for it to tip over.

As it turned out, moving a fast-moving, heavy train was very difficult while it was pushing you with even more force. _'I need more power!'_ Sasuke concluded, forming the energy needed for the next stage of his **Susano'o**.

Already the cowl began forming, muscles began appearing on the bones, the demonic smiling mask covered the skull behind it, and with that, the train finally began getting off the tracks. Surprising all present to witness this feat, and discomforting those on top the train who were under the glowing gaze of the smiling ethereal warrior.

Except Neo who smiled right back.

" **RAAAH!** " Sasuke shouted as he finally lifted the whole train and its cars to be on only one side of its tracks. Once it reached the proper angle, he let go of the behemoth, leapt on top of the tilted train that was going to fall, and ran on top of it with Chakra-imbued feet.

The Uchiha saw panic in the eyes of the protectors of Vale, especially when they saw this large, purple upper body of something running at them. Which increased even more so when it opened its arm to _embrace_ them. So Coco couldn't help but shriek and shut her eyes when this fiery creature caught her in its grasp, but realized it didn't hurt a single bit.

Even when the fashionista heard a massive crash and explosion as she tumbled around in whatever it was she and her team were in, she didn't feel anything that would truly harm them.

Slowly, the tumbling slowed to a stop. "W-What the. . . Where are we?" Coco asked no one in particular as she opened her eyes, while looking around to see she was surrounded by purple translucent walls of fire. There was nothing to see but rocks and dirt, which were illuminated by the purple glow of the **Susano'o**.

"What happened?" asked a groggy Yatsuhashi as he rubbed his head after standing back up from the odd experience, then looked around, finding the other people he was with coming out of their stupor as well. "We're alive, r-right?"

"You are all alive, yes," someone answered casually. When the two turned to the person speaking, it was the Uchiha they were meant to fight. "We are currently under debris and rubble from the train wreck."

The ones who heard widened their eyes at that. All of those present remember being on a train until some purple monster grabbed them. Beyond that was a little hazy, even though it was merely seconds ago.

"So you saved us," Port said as he, and the others, began standing in the **Susano'o**. "I don't know whether to thank you or continue to arrest you." The moment the train began heading to that wall, Peter believed everything was over for himself and his beloved students.

Sasuke stayed quiet at Peter's little dilemma of a decision. He was sure the professor would know later on that one of those would be impossible unless the Uchiha wanted it to happen.

The safety holding them all began shifting. _'Hopefully, the damage wasn't catastrophic,'_ the ninja thought as he began digging upwards to the city.

Through rocks and dirt, Sasuke's **Susano'o** punched through the final barrier where daylight finally shined through the Chakra armor and illuminated the people inside of it instead of the purple glow.

For the people outside, after hearing a massive explosion and seeing a massive flash, they also saw how two purple demonic arms, but with three hands, reached outwards to the sky from the crater that made the center plaza. And when those arms grabbed the ground, the people panicked as they saw an ethereal creature began raising itself using the ground as support. It's shining smile and eyes terrified the civilians.

Of course, a few of them brought out their Scrolls and began either calling law enforcement or recording the events in front of them instead of running away like most sensible people do when they saw that evil smile.

Topside, the Uchiha and the group from Beacon saw how the situation was worse than what he had hoped for. The train, while slowed down in its momentum, wasn't the true cause of the crater, as it still had enough Dust left in a few of the attached cars to cause the large explosion that opened up the breach.

Much of that Dust was stolen by the Uchiha and gave a surplus to the White Fang.

Team CFVY and Peter saw how the citizens began running away to hide from the soulless creatures that began crawling out of the massive hole.

"Run!", "Oh God, is it the end!?", "Where are the damned Huntsmen!?" and similar shouts were heard as people began stampeding for safety from the different kinds of Grimm coming out to end Vale, but some weren't fast enough.

"Shit!" Coco said as she slammed her fists in the armor, then turned to the one they were meant to arrest. "We have get going. Let us out!" The shinobi nodded and gestured for them to leave, and they did just that as quickly as possible. Port and his students dashed through the armor to do their jobs.

"C'mon, Sasuke," said Velvet just before she ran towards the chaos, expecting the mercenary to follow and save the day in his giant suit of energy. She only looked back to see the ethereal being, but gulped at the feeling of pure evil this purple _thing_ emanated. She took a snap of it with her camera before finally running back forward to fight the Grimm.

The Uchiha, however, only looked at the city that was currently being overrun, and thought, _'I can take Roman here and leave Remnant altogether.'_ The authorities would be too busy to try finding and capturing the Uchiha. He then looked to Neo standing by his side and simply looking at him silently. _'Perhaps even. . .'_ Neopolitan would make a fine shinobi.

Moving one the **Susano'o** arms, the shinobi grabbed a Deathstalker's tail before it struck his armor, used the other arm to hold the Grimm in place, and ripped the tail off, leading it to squirm in pain. With the six-fingered hand he used to hold it down, he pressed and pressed until it was crushed by the pressure.

With that threat taken care of, Sasuke looked around Vale again, seeing how team CFVY with their professor tried desperately to save everyone with their power, but he could see a few corpses of civilians who weren't saved in time.

Saving everyone was impossible, Sasuke knew that as fact even back in his home world, but that didn't mean you couldn't save who you could. Alas, team CFVY seemed to be trying their best to fight against fact, when it was already proven impossible with the dead that the Uchiha could clearly see.

"Neo," Sasuke called as the **Susano'o** began fading. He then grabbed her by the waist, and flickered atop of a small but sturdy concrete building nearby. "After this is over, don't do anything, stay silent, and wait for me." Neopolitan tilted her head in confusion at his words, but nodded regardless, even though slightly disoriented at the sudden change of scenery.

Neo watched in silent fascination as her friend changed his left eye to a purple ripple patter with six commas, formed a seal, smacked both his palms on the roof they were in, and then the Uchiha shouted, " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu!** "

-Thirty seconds earlier-

Coco ran towards to the thick of Grimm from the safety the armor Sasuke was in. "Damn it!" she shouted when she saw the one death of many. As she was swinging around her 'handbag', she pummeled Grimm of all kinds, but that didn't mean she made it in time to save who she wanted. "Where the hell is everyone!?"

Peter, who swung his axe in a wide angle to kill several Beowulves surrounding him, said with some reassurance, "they should be here soon." Which was true, but this many Grimm in the area were killing people by the second. "We must do what we can until then."

Growling, Coco had no choice but to accept that answer, but just then, she looked around to find the person who _should_ be there but _wasn't_. When the fashionista looked behind her, she was aggravated as she saw the Uchiha still standing there with one of the fists of that purple thing on the ground. She could almost see the telltale signs of ash in its grasp, but the ninja still hadn't moved from his place.

And when the **Susano'o** of his began vanishing, Coco became absolutely livid. Even more so when he wrapped his arm around shorty just before he vanished. "That two-timing bastard!" she cursed loudly. "Sasuke left us!" Adel honestly believed that she could trust him a small bit, but it seemed that she was wr-

"Wait, there he is!" Velvet said right after she flipped a Boarbatusk on its back, which was then killed by Fox. The Faunus pointed towards one of rooftops of a nearby building. "What's he doing?"

When Coco looked to the rooftop, she half-expected him to vanish again for an escape, but all he did was form some weird hand gesture, then slam his hands on the roof.

That was when a massive explosion of smoke happened. It even blew a gust in all directions, as if declaring to everyone and everything nearby of its presence.

"What the hell?" Coco cursed as she covered her face from the wind. When the gust subsided, she was able to look back to the ninja's position, but in his place was a huge cloud of smoke. Something about it just felt _off_ to her somehow, even more so when she spotted something move inside it.

The cloud began dispersing and revealed more of what was hidden by it. The more it showed, the more all things living and soulless began giving it attention. Why? Because a colossal, brown-furred dog, with several heads too many, turned out to be inside it. What was peculiar, besides the extra heads, was that it shared the same eyes as one of Sasuke's, and that it had large, black spikes pierced above each of their noses.

Ten of its large heads growled and roared to the sky, freezing everybody and everything in its place with its bared teeth as it towered several stories above the building it was already on.

"Oh my God," Coco said dumbly while staring at the massive creature, forgetting the fight she was supposed to be in. "That. . . _can't_ be real." Nobody responded since they were just as busy giving the large dog their attention, but had similar thoughts of disbelief.

Not even the Grimm gave attention to these Humans and Faunus at the moment, merely watching this new predator that entered the stage, waiting to see what it does next besides appearing out of nowhere. Some began growling at the large beast, not liking what they were seeing.

"Sasuke. . ." Velvet said slowly as she spotted a familiar person on the Giant Multi-Headed Dog's head, then pointed towards him. "He's on top of it."

Professor Peter Port had experienced much during his time as a Huntsmen, and even as a teacher he had seen new and exciting things, but this was of those rare moments he could say he hadn't seen anything like it before. And when he followed his student's line of sight, he saw that her statement was indeed true, adding more to the bizarre situation. "My God, did he summon it?"

The Uchiha was on top of one of the heads as he leaned on Neo, who loyally gave him her shoulder to support him. He was having great difficulty finding which of these perspectives was his, and until then this dizziness won't stop. It was far worse than simply having three eyes when he used the chameleon, and he knew it was going to get worse.

Sasuke inhaled heavily, finally finding and settling with a perspective he knew was his, but even then the dizziness hadn't ceased just yet; it merely lessened. He pushed himself off of Neo after his legs finally steadied, giving her a thankful nod, and then looked to the people and Grimm beneath him.

It was odd seeing the soulless creatures freeze at the sight of the Giant Multi-Headed Dog, and it was annoying that team CFVY watched instead of fighting, but he couldn't really blame them; not yet, anyway. Not many would find a massive canine with multiple heads, one body, _very_ sharp fangs, and those eyes exactly ignorable.

Giving his summon a goal in mind through their shared connection, the Uchiha said something that brought a smirk to the small woman beside him, "kill them."

And just like that, hell descended upon the Uchiha's enemies. The giant dog split apart into a dozen smaller, yet still big, creatures, causing the duo on top to land on the building's roof.

The farther they went, the more they split, giving Sasuke the small army of over several dozens of what he needed to take back Vale, but that didn't help his headache and dizziness, and found himself holding onto Neo's shoulder again for support.

People shrieked when this new predator descended upon them, even more so when they multiplied still, almost as though this was the beginning of the apocalypse. And when those very demonic creatures passed them to bite the throat out of that Beowulf, shredding that Boarbatusk behind them to shreds, or even when that Taijitu began being pulled apart by multiple of those dogs, it brought confusion.

But for a split second during this mayhem, before they went back to their fear, a few citizens of Vale felt something they hadn't in a while, hope.

"Wait!" Yatsuhashi said in surprise, bringing up his sword again for a fight when one of those large things were running in his direction, but proved unneeded when it jumped over him to chomp down on a small Deathstalker. Team CFVY and Peter looked on as it brutally killed the Grimm. "Those things are with us?"

"For now," answered a familiar voice. When the team and professor turned, they saw that it was Sasuke with a Mangekyo in one eye and a Rinnegan in the other. By him was Neo, smiling away as she looked around to see the display of power. "However, they will only listen to me."

 **Susano'o** was a single massive technique, so it won't be useful for clearing all of Vale quickly. The Giant Multi-Headed Dog was perfect for the job, as it was essentially a multiplying shock trooper when he implemented the **Amplification Summoning Technique**. Fast, numerous, and devastating, that was what he needed. Any other summon would cause to much damage to Vale itself if he summoned them to support.

The Uchiha walked forward confidently. What Grimm that was still in the plaza were either dead or being killed by his army of otherworldly dogs, and that army would stretch farther until they found every last Creep. Then when the situation was under control, he would dismiss them.

It was good news that Huntsmen from the Academy began arriving to clear the city, student and teacher. So it should be over soon enough when the remaining Atlesian fleet arrived.

One of the dogs split as Sasuke was taking a step which caused him to lose his line of sight, so he fumbled slightly, but he was supported by Coco. "Whoa there," she said with concern as she held his shoulder. "You don't look so good. That thing must have taken a lot out of you."

It hadn't, but dizziness wasn't a major reason to mention, so he kept it to himself as he tried finding his own eyes again. Already he was seeing dozens of perspectives where each one was of killing Grimm, but only one was of Coco's face. So it helped pick out what was his and what wasn't.

Standing back up after the disorientation passed. "I'm fine," he reassured. "We must focu-" A series of loud squawks interrupted him, and when he looked to the source, it was from a few rather _large_ Nevermores.

The Uchiha sighed, he almost forgot about the fliers. He turned to face them, took out Kusanagi, and pou-

"Hold on a moment, Sasuke!" He was interrupted by the leader of team CFVY herself. When he looked to her for a quick explanation for the delay, she eyed him up and down before saying, "I think you handled enough for today." She then brought out her handbag, that was when it began shifting to a completely different weapon, with multiple barrels no less

With raised brows, the Uchiha internally scoffed and thought, _'I knew it.'_ There was no way that bag of hers wasn't a weapon.

The Konoha-nin shook his head at the random thought, and said, "I can handle the-" He was interrupted yet again, but by the series of _bangs_ that emanated from the team leader's weapon as she began shooting towards the Nevermores, neutralizing them quickly.

After dispatching the flying Grimm, Coco turned Sasuke, and said, "you take a breather. We can handle the rest." She wasn't convinced that the Uchiha was in perfect health after summoning that large beast and that little stumble. She only heard of the Schnee family being capable of such things, but this one was _vastly_ different than what she heard about.

The Uchiha appreciated her concern, but it was heavily misplaced since he was fine if slightly disoriented, but he was quickly getting used to handling the multiple perspectives.

The situation in Vale was getting under control, as he could clearly see from his hounds' eyes that Grimm were getting scarcer and scarcer. The only threat to them were the Huntsmen attacking them, possible from believing they are some new type of Grimm.

At the strange sound, he looked up to see the half of the Atlesian armada making its way and killing both Grimm and his summon, dispelling them instead of splitting into more. At this point, the Giant Multi-Headed Dog wasn't needed any longer and was more of a precaution.

Closing his eyes, the Uchiha gave a clear mental order. And just like that, explosions of smoke began occurring everywhere within Vale. Sasuke saw how every line of sight of his summons' began disappearing in droves, leaving nothing but darkness from closed eyes. "It's done. Vale is no longer littered with Grimm," he told team CFVY with black eyes once more.

Velvet was watching of those winged dogs when it suddenly vanished in a cloud of smoke, but then looked to the Uchiha. "Sasuke, what are you?" she asked simply. He summoned a single thing that turned into a small army, which was something truly frightening knowing that he had such capabilities while he was attending Beacon. That was on top of the other things he was capable of, like that purple energy armor that was able to hold of a massive _train_.

At that point, the Faunus wondered if Sasuke was even human.

 _'A shinobi,'_ Sasuke answered mentally. "I am a wanted fugitive," he replied, which confused her, but it cleared up instantly when robots, soldiers, and airships began to draw closer while pointing their weapons at Neo and the savior of Vale.

Even though Sasuke had some hand in causing all this to happen in the first place. . .

One familiar blonde professor was in the area and was the first of the Huntsmen to raise her weapon on the ninja. "Don't you dare move, Uchiha!" ordered Glynda, raising her crop in his direction. She most definitely saw those large, brown beasts that bore his eye, and had a guess where they were from. And after a quick revision of the security feed archives, her guess proved true.

Most of all, after she saw how those large summons slaughtered Grimm ruthlessly and multiplied, Glynda hoped that it was enough to wind him from summoning again, because she began having doubts in her capabilities to fight him and those giant beasts at the same time. At the moment, she wanted him to be arrested just so they could clear up what the hell just happened the past hour.

Who was innocent, who was guilty, and who was a hero? Those were what the blonde professor wanted to know.

Looking to the side after he raised his arms in 'cooperation', which was mimicked by Neopolitan, Sasuke saw Roman being arrested and dragged into one of the airships by two trainees. That view was blocked when more soldiers came to surround him weapons drawn. _'I need to get to him.'_ He then saw that very airship fly up to an even larger one up in the sky.

"Hold up!" shouted Coco suddenly, breaking through the circle of guards with the rest of her team behind her, then she stood by the Uchiha's and Neo's side. "This guy-" She pointed towards him. "-saved all of Vale just now, and you want to arrest him!?"

Resistance to Coco's defense wasn't from who she expected. "Stand down, my dear," began Peter, whose weapon was not drawn like his colleague's. "You must understand that, while Sasuke did save Vale today, he helped in causing it." He raised his hand when Velvet wanted to retort. "Before you argue, I fully believe that the Council will take today's events to account, so I wouldn't be too worried. Wouldn't you say so as well, Mr. Uchiha?"

Port didn't mean much about believing in the Council, but he didn't want his precious students to end up in prison for defending a criminal in the eyes of the law. To Peter, Sasuke's help was the reason the death toll wasn't higher than it should've been, why the corpses on the road seemed to be lacking, and that was more responsibility than most people were willing to take for their actions.

Nodding, Sasuke looked to Adel and told her, "Coco, you would only complicate things, so it would be best for you and your team to help the injured instead." He was surprised that they would stand against their leaders for him, which was a punishable by death back home.

So it was either an act of stupidity or an act of acknowledgment of Sasuke's action in saving Vale. Either way, the sentiment was appreciated but unnecessary. "Or are you willing to have your team go through imprisonment?" the Konoha-nin asked.

Now the fashionista began losing her resolve. She was willing to go through imprisonment herself, but didn't want that fate to befall her dear teammates, her friends. She knew full well they would follow her through this, but Coco wasn't willing to let her friends suffer through it simply for her pride.

Seething, Coco looked to the one being under arrest and said with grit teeth, "you better not stick too long behind bars, Sasuke." She then walked away, glaring at the guards who were going to take him away. _'If they decided to keep you in, then I'm busting you out myself.'_ Looking towards her team, she ordered, "let's go. Sasuke can handle this." After today, that last statement was a given; inside or outside of prison.

Yatsuhashi looked to the ninja, and nodded to him in thanks with a pat on the shoulder, before following his leader. Velvet was most hesitant and wished him luck before following her teammates. Fox. . . just nodded to him then walked away.

He looked towards them as they disappeared behind the guards surrounding him. _'A shame I won't be seeing all of you after today. . .'_ Sasuke realized what he had just thought, and was surprised he had such high opinion of team CFVY. Even though they hadn't been in the company of each other for that long, which made it even more peculiar to him.

 _Bark!_

The Uchiha blinked before he looked towards his feet, where the sound came from. _'A dog?'_ It was indeed a dog, but from the mass murder that he thwarted, a cute little dog wasn't exactly what he expected to see after all that happened. A small white and black corgi, specifically.

Unless Remnant had a weird species of attack dogs the Uchiha hadn't heard of. . . Then again, Akamaru wasn't a simple puppy in his early years.

Looking around for an explanation of any kind, the ninja found familiar silver eyes he hadn't seen in a long while. Those very eyes were staring at his black ones in surprise.

"Sasuke!?" Ruby screamed in disbelief, not expecting the rumors she heard to be true. The only thing the news shared as fact was that some new type of creature began slaughtering Grimm that invaded, and only a few mentioned the ninja's appearance. So when went to see what the gathering of soldiers and ships were about, it was a surprise for her to find a familiar face.

But where there was Ruby, there were three others.

When team RWBY answered the call to fight Grimm that had invaded Vale, they weren't expecting to arrive and see large, brown, winged, dogs killing them en masse. Most notably how they carried the eyes of a certain traitor. Blake and Yang were most _excited_ to see the Uchiha again, while Weiss was concerned about hearing the unfounded information of Sasuke _summoning_ these things.

"Stop right there, Miss Xiao Long," Peter said as he stepped in front of the blonde brawler, noting her angry red eyes were now aimed towards him, but he ignored it. "I assure you, that Sasuke Uchiha would face the full extent of the law, so control yourself." He saw her coming and immediately took note of her hostility before stepping in front of her before she did something regrettable.

" _Control_ myself? After what he did to Ruby, to all of us?" she seethed out, Blake and Weiss behind her in support. "I can't say I can, _professor_." Sasuke _really_ wanted to mention that giving lip to your superior wasn't a smart decision, but he wasn't exactly one to argue. More so because it would make things worse and even more complicated at the moment.

Peter's maturity showed this time and sent a hardened glare in the blonde's way. "Stand down, Miss Xiao Long," he said in a demanding tone. He sympathized with Yang, he truly did, but the Uchiha saved him and the students under his watch, and that was on top of possibly countless citizens.

Peter knew that Sasuke could have ran away without any of them to stop him, but he chose not to. So the professor could keep the blonde's rage away from him just this once. It was the least he could do.

While surprised that Port's personality changed from what she knew, the real reason Yang backed down was because Weiss grabbed her shoulder. When the blonde glared at the contact, Weiss gestured to look to her side, and she did just that, spotting the blonde professor that taught them.

"Miss Xiao Long, I think it's best for you to leave," Glynda said coldly as she placed a hand on her free shoulder. "Now's not the time, especially after what happened." Things needed to be in control after the thwarted invasion, and the rightfully-angry teen wasn't helping in that aspect.

The younger blonde glared at the older one, who looked back with even more force. " _Tch!_ " she sounded before breaking eye contact and stomping elsewhere. Before she went out of sight, Yang looked back to Sasuke and said unkindly, "see you soon, _Sasuke_."

He only looked to her neutrally until she left, but answered mentally, _'no, you won't.'_ And if he did meet her again, the Uchiha had fought stronger blondes.

Looking towards Ruby, she had a face of conflict. Either she chose her team and go with them, or remain and watch this person who saved and betrayed her, the one who caused a lot of discord to her team and tore at their hearts from the inside-out. Honestly, it was the easiest decision to the Uchiha.

When their eyes met, her face of conflict turned to an odd one of begging, as though she wanted him to do something. Making the decision for her, he shook his head and gestured to her team. _'Never abandon your team, your family, for something else.'_

Sasuke Uchiha learned that the hard and bloody way, and wished that this decision of going against Roman was the right one. He didn't want to return home to his family so he could tell them he was involved in killing and ruining thousands of lives for them. No, they wouldn't accept that, and even if by some miracle they did, Sasuke wasn't sure _he_ would accept it.

Ruby widened her eyes as though in some kind of realization before she began to tear up. This confused the Uchiha, he didn't know how two gestures caused this much of an effect, but it was pointless to think about it any further when she ran off to catch her team, with the corgi following her shortly after.

Turning back to Glynda, who dealt the blow that made Yang leave, Sasuke said, "I assume you're still arresting me." He stuck both his hands out for the cuffs, which was also mimicked by Neo. This kind of loyalty was rare, even in the ninja world. So he would question Neo about it at a later date.

Hopefully back in Konoha.

If the Uchiha was expecting some linked, metal, bracelet-like handcuffs, he was wrong. Glynda came forward and might as well had placed his hands in a small metal sphere, forcing the captor's hands to interlock and hold each other with no wiggle room.

Either they think most of his capabilities were in the seals he often used or it was just a coincidence in design. It didn't matter, though, the shinobi had more than enough ways to escape, and Neo had her own for that matter, who had the similar looking cuffs as the ninja's.

And if that wasn't enough, things now became dark with the cloth bag that was now over his head. _'Possibly to block attempts any Sharingan techniques,'_ Sasuke assumed. If he didn't know they had knowledge of the powers of his eyes before today, he knew now. Although, he knew for sure they didn't know the extent of it even after the recent events.

If they did, they should have brought a larger army.

The Uchiha allowed the guards to lead him into an airship and sat down. A second later, he felt another person sit beside him with a familiar smell. "Neo, remember what I said," he whispered, and she responded by tapping the floor twice with her heals. Again, he wasn't sure why she took his demand for silence so deeply, but it should be fine for now. With that, he thought of what he needed to do, _'I'm coming for you, Roman, for the last time.'_

* * *

" _Reporting from the plaza, it seems the situation is now under control from the Grimm invasion a few hours ago,_ " Lisa Lavender began as she reported on-scene. Behind her were military droids and soldiers from both Vale and Atlas helping the wounded and were also removing the dead from view. " _However, the people here aren't all saying that it was the Huntsmen that helped, but the criminal-now-turned-hero, Sasuke Uchiha. Here's what a few had to say about what happened._ "

The video transitioned to a young woman in a wheelchair with a child no older than a year in her arms, with a man by her side presumed to be her husband. " _I was outside for a walk with my baby when the Grimm came out of that hole in the plaza,_ " she began timidly, memory still fresh in her mind. " _I remember hearing an explosion in the distance,_ _a flash of light, and that was it, I thought it was over. I didn't want to risk it, so I sped back home, but I had to go around the center plaza. Then something hit me from the side, knocking me away from my baby._ " She began hyperventilating at the flashback." _It was a Beowulf that hit me away from my child, a-and it came closer and closer to her._ "

At that point, the mother began tearing up. " _I tried getting up to take Hannah and run away or fight it off myself, but the Grimm broke my legs._ " People could see the woman grit her teeth in anger. " _I felt so hopeless! I was going to watch my little girl get eaten right in front of me, and I couldn't do anything!_ " she shouted when she relived her self-hatred and fear, but calmed down slightly when she recalled what happened next. " _Right before it even touched my baby girl, one of those brown dogs with purple eyes killed it. I had no idea what it was or where it came from, I thought it was another Grimm here to kill us, but it just ran off to somewhere else._ " She panted after recalling that whole ordeal which exhausted her, but the husband placed a supportive hand on her shoulder, which helped her collect herself.

" _After I heard about who was responsible, I need to say this,_ " the woman said as she looked to her child, the one she almost lost, then back to the camera. " _If you're seeing this, Sasuke Uchiha, I hope you rot in prison._ "

Another transition, another citizen of Vale. This time, a middle-aged man. " _Yeah,_ _I was at the plaza when it blew up, and let me tell ya, it was terrifying. One moment, ya hear an explosion that deafens the heavens and lights up hell, but right after that, you see Grimm crawling out of that hole. I mean like hundreds of those *_ Beep _*, and they just kept on comin'. I tried to run outta there, but a Creep got to me before I could book it._ " The man gave a shudder at the flashback. " _Then guess what? Another huge explosion, but this time it's only smoke. At least, that's what I thought. What we_ _ **all**_ _at the plaza thought._ "

The man took a deep breath, readying his words to continue recalling his experience. " _That boom, the second one, might as well have frozen time, where even that *_ Beep _* Grimm on top of me stopped stiff to stare at it just like I did. Hell, I forgot about this thing trying to kill me!_ " He gave a small hoarse chuckle, but then looked at the camera with a serious look. " _What came outta that smoke might as well have been an act of God. I think I even pissed myself seeing all those heads. But of all the heads on that giant dog, only one wasn't moving, and it had two people standing on it, one of 'em I've seen on the news with all those weird powers. Sasuke Uchiha brought that thing here, and that very thing saved my life just by being there. When it split apart, one of the brown dogs tore the throat of the Creep holding me down._ " The man stood straighter with a look of resolution." _That boy, Sasuke Uchiha, saved my old *_ Beep* _._ "

The screen blinked to another person, a woman with a professional look to her. " _Yeah, I heard about what happened at the center plaza, and how Sasuke Uchiha brought that thing to save the day, but people seem to be forgetting that he was with the people that caused it, and that means he had played a part in making it. I'm not going to say he hadn't saved people, because he certainly did, but he was one of the people who made that danger happen in the first place, and should be held accountable for his actions, all of it._ " The woman sighed. " _I won't go around calling him a hero just yet, even after 'Dawn', or whatever it is they're calling it. Perhaps_ _ **after**_ _he takes responsibility for the crimes long before all this Dawn nonsense._ "

Lisa Lavender came back on screen. " _As you could see, Cyril, people are split between calling the currently imprisoned criminal, Sasuke Uchiha, either the hero of the day or one of the instigators for it. People have even come to call the event 'Dawn of Mankind', or simply 'Dawn', for reasons that will be explained later on,_ " she informed. " _One thing is certain, though, that Sasuke Uchiha was indeed the summoner of the large multi-headed dog that appeared, and used it to eliminate all Grimm in the area. Whether or not it was for a more nefarious reason remains unclear, and we hope to hear from the officials regarding this issue soon. Back to you, Cyril._ "

Turning off the Scroll, Ruby sighed and put her headphones back around her neck. She knew what she thought of Sasuke, but didn't know how to put it to words for her team. As time went on, and the more news she heard of the infamous 'Gaara' stealing Dust, she started believing that Sasuke wasn't as good of a person she thought. Especially when he came to the dance for whatever reason.

Blake wouldn't talk about it and acted weirdly when asked what Sasuke was doing with her on the balcony. She seemed to have Jaune keep his mouth shut somehow as well, since he was the only one who saw them together, but Ruby was confident he told his team, at least.

And then, that look in his eyes when he wordlessly told her to go back to her team, as though he was the same person before he left, that brought back her confidence about her conviction a good bit. She wanted to see him as a criminal, but she couldn't after that.

After what she heard, Sasuke could make mindless drones of people and could have escaped using that. She made eye contact with him hoping for him to use her. She was tired of second guessing, and begged him to show he was evil, but he didn't do that; he merely permitted them to arrest him. Would a bad guy allow that?

Sasuke couldn't be bad, he was just. . . _something_. The young sister didn't know the word for it, but he wasn't the evil person many people made him out to be, but she can't bring herself to call him 'good'. At least, not in the same sense like in the stories. He wasn't evil, and that was the 'something'.

The only one who held on to that belief before today was Pyrrha, and she was adamant in saying the same thing Ruby had said. Sasuke was powerful, so if he needed the White Fang for something, then that would mean he didn't have a choice but to work for them. That was the belief Pyrrha shared to Weiss when she held out her arm that day, the same belief Ruby shared with her two teammates a few minutes prior to that.

"I don't know what to do. . ." the young leader muttered to herself in frustration as she walked in front of her team. Her friends were being as stubborn as she was, and neither were willing to back down from their beliefs.

"Hmm, what is it, Rubes?" Yang asked as team RWBY walked around Vale. Student teams were given the field task of assisting the authorities with any wounded that they found, and a few hours ago it was exactly the case, but now they were patrolling for anything that was missed and help when needed. "You're still thinking about him, aren't you?"

The young leader looked to her elder sister behind her. "You mean the person who saved Vale? Yes, I am," she replied, causing the blonde and the other two members to frown. "I know what he did before was wrong, but I can't just go and say he's a bad guy, especially after today." She then stopped walking, and looked to her team with a hopeful look. "Can't you guys see that he's not that bad a person? C'mon!"

Walking forward until she was right in front of her leader, Blake grabbed her shoulders and said seriously, "Ruby, that 'hero' ran a sword _through_ you." The young girl winced at the memory and tone. "And you want me to forgive him? I don't think I can do that." Blake had more personal reasons to not forgive the Uchiha.

"But look at what he did! He saved Vale from Grimm with that thing," Ruby tried reasoning. When the security camera footage found the Uchiha summoning the big dog, it was no longer argued who was responsible for bringing that monster here.

When all of Vale saw that this person being able to control it, it had set off a whole chain of debates. Could they bring Sasuke to their side and fight monsters _with_ monsters? Was it too much power for one nation to have control over, and should it be set as an international weapon? Was it possible to harness this fighting force that was capable of freeing all of Vale from beasts in minutes?

Regardless the side of discussion, the common theme was the Uchiha himself, and whether or not he could be used to fight the terror of Grimm. Could this be the time for mankind to win against Grimm as a whole, where the first true victory against the horde in Vale was the Dawn for the rise of man?

And did it depend on a single, otherworldly soul to be the vanguard of it all?

"I still can't believe he was the one who summoned it," Weiss said quietly, but was heard by her colleagues. The Schnee family were the summoners, not some mercenary. Not that it matched anything she saw from their hereditary abilities, so he couldn't have Schnee blood in him, but the concept that he summoned was shocking in itself.

Plus, Weiss was more than a little peeved that this criminal summoned when she had yet to accomplish her birthright.

"What even was that thing?" Yang wondered out loud. When team RWBY answered the call to liberate Vale from Grimm, they hadn't expected the first thing to see being a big, brown, winged dog chewing on a Boarbatusk when they dropped from the bullhead. Even more surprising to see its familiar eyes before it bolted off to find its next prey.

And when they heard it was once a single being with almost a dozen heads before it split apart into dozens and dozens of creatures, it wasn't exactly believable, especially the head-math, until footage of it was released. Seeing him standing on the rooftop with a small kid by his side, and when he slammed his palms on the roof which caused a massive plume of smoke to suddenly appear, there was no doubt for team RWBY who summoned it.

"It's what saved the day," Ruby stated. "And the one who summoned brought it here and saved thousands from being killed."

Weiss didn't like that her leader was right, but also that she was so willing to accept that it was out of altruism. "Sasuke lied to us, stole Dust, and hurt people," the heiress reminded, that last one was aimed towards the younger girl. "How do you know that he didn't have something sinister planned, and those people he saved were just a way to it?"

Ruby stayed quiet, frustrated for not knowing how to respond. She wanted to shout 'Sasuke would never do that!', or even 'how is saving people a way for a sinister plan!?' but it sounded childish, even to her. Especially with everything she heard him do before. In fact, it wouldn't be outside the realm of reality for it to be the case, but Ruby wanted to believe he wasn't a bad guy, that he was just _something._

"Even that thing he was in before he summoned that big dog was evil-looking as hell," Yang said in support for the heiress. One of the things in the uploaded videos was him that giant purple armor, which was later clarified by Coco Adel to be just that. The blonde shuddered, and stated, "that smile on that thing is not natural."

When that purple warrior thing crushed a _whole_ Deathstalker with one of its three hands, it set the stage of how much power the Uchiha was withholding during his time at Beacon. And when the esteemed Peter Port stated that the Uchiha used that very armor to tip a massive, _moving_ train, people had no idea how to gauge that technique of the Uchiha's.

Already there were discussions of research teams being made to look into the abilities Sasuke had shown, but they were mere rumors, gossip, and hearsay.

"All that matters is that Sasuke saved people," Ruby reaffirmed, then looked to her comrades. "I can't force you to forgive Sasuke, but don't ask me to hate him, because I can't." She tried to, though, even if to simply connect with her team again, and she came close a few times, but memories of the Uchiha's time with her and the teams kept coming up.

Walking forward ahead of her silent teammates, she looked up to the large airship that probably held the ninja, and thought, _'what's happening to you now, Sasuke?'_ She heard the theories of people torturing him for answers of how he's capable of all this. Ruby prayed they weren't true.

* * *

 _'This bag is becoming rather irritating,'_ the Uchiha thought in annoyance. He had been standing for over an hour, tightly cuffed hands and feet bolted to the ceiling and floor respectively to prevent any unseen movement, and they had yet to take off the damn black, cloth bag from his head. Most likely because they didn't trust him yet with those eye powers of his, so it was understandable, but still bothersome.

Occasionally, a guard would come and strike the Uchiha's gut to make sure his 'Aura' was still depleted. Not a very elegant way, but it was most likely due to Sasuke's 'Aura' not being able to be detected, and they were forced to use more basic means of finding out. . . or he pissed off enough people. To tolerate it hurt his pride hurt more than his body, though.

Hours ago, the guards moved him to different parts of the large airship from a small cell to another while his head was covered, and now had no idea where Neopolitan was at current time. Regardless, the plan needed patience, and he was going to get what he needed.

Two pairs of steps and a door opening were heard, and with that, a familiar voice. "Sasuke Uchiha, wanted criminal all across Remnant for the crime of grand-scale larceny," James Ironwood said as he took a seat in front of the captured Uchiha. "Grand-scale larceny, that's a new one they had to make just for you. Easier to say that than over a hundred counts of theft and assault. And those weren't counting the stealing of government property." He threw the documents onto the table separating the two with an audible sound.

 _'An interrogation room,'_ Sasuke concluded. It wasn't as if he didn't notice the clues from the acoustics, but the fact that there was a table and another chair was convenient to verify that he had _that_ much room to move in. "I returned the Paladins, however," the Uchiha replied normally, stalling for time to collect more details of his surroundings.

The general scoffed. "You 'returned' some of them in repairable condition, but there were many in pieces in that train and tunnel your group used," he retorted. "Do you know what's going to happen to you, Mr. Uchiha?"

"I can guess." Sasuke had no intention of going to some prison that can't hold him. In fact, he didn't intend to be in confinement for too long on this ship now.

"Let me make this perfectly clear," James said aggressively as he stood up, and placed his open palms on the metal table. "You are in far too much trouble for one your age to normally be in. The kingdoms all want you in their specific prisons, and we're finding a way to do just that."

Technically, Sasuke could make clones and serve each of those sentences at the same time, but the ninja didn't voice the idea for a few obvious reasons including foolishness.

"Unless," began the second person in the room, who was even more familiar. "You work for us." Ozpin, of course, had to join in and gave the ultimatum to the young criminal in front of him.

 _'Two very seasoned and experienced Huntsmen whose capabilities, skills, and Semblances are unknown to me. . . fucking great,'_ the Uchiha thought cynically. "Are you confident your prisons can hold me?"

"What did you say?" James seethed. "You don't seem to know the situation you brought yourself in." Prison? He didn't believe anything as simple as that could incarcerate Sasuke, but if they sedated him and placed the Uchiha in a particular machine similar to the one holding Amber in stasis, then they most definitely could.

The fact summoning that massive creature weakened the Uchiha enough to be held captive this long was a miracle. Soon, if he doesn't cooperate, then he would be imprisoned in a coma-like state while his Aura was slowly drained away.

"I know that you can't hold me. None of your prisons can," the shinobi stated as though fact. Could he wing it? Would it even work? He had to try. "Thus, the threat you gave me holds no weight." He began flowing the Chakra towards his eyes. "I have no intention of being in a cell or working under you."

A forced sigh was heard. "Do you think this is a game?" the general asked irritably, not liking the arrogance the teen was showing. "If it was up to me, you would have been imprisoned for life, but Ozpin wanted to give you a choice."

The Beacon headmaster stepped forward and stated, "Mr. Uchiha, if you were to cooperate with us, then we can pull a few strings to let bygones be bygones." With a good fraction of the public opinion being on Sasuke's side, it shouldn't be too difficult to sway things. "Perhaps even have you treated as a hero for your latest actions. _If_ you agree to our terms."

After hearing from the silver-haired man, Sasuke thought the word 'cooperate' sounded funny when you're bound by chains.

Choices, ultimatums, employment, or even fame, the Konoha-nin wanted none of it here on Remnant. He couldn't see the two people in front of him, but he could imagine the irritated look of the general, and the serious look of Ozpin.

"I want nothing from any of you," the Uchiha stated simply, displeasing the two headmasters. "However, there is one person who has something I want, and you can help me find him."

The general and the headmaster shared an unseen look. "And who is that person?" asked James, wary of who this person might be.

 _'It's time.'_ Sasuke sighed, focused on what he needed to do, and looked off to the side towards the corner of the room to make the angle just right. "Doesn't matter anymore," he answered. "Because it's too late. . . for you."

A split second ago, the Uchiha was detained in chains, but a blink later, he was standing right beside it free of his bounds, the bag that covered his head comically falling towards the ground as it stayed in its place when the ninja teleported to another spot in the room.

The first mistake for the headmasters was that the Uchiha's substitution technique and speed weren't all that he used to blink to other areas. Augmented with the fact that he had yet to escape from his bounds and empty of Aura, they believed he was held securely.

The second mistake was that, when they looked towards the shinobi because they were caught off guard, they let their surprised eyes make contact with his red, starburst-patterned one, and the purple, rippled one.

 _'_ _ **Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes!**_ _'_ Sasuke thought at the exact moment his eyes met the general's, and placed the same illusion on the headmaster without eye contact to keep him from acting quickly.

In their minds, the headmasters felt searing pain as their were bodies pierced by thick, stone spikes in an unfamiliar land with red skies. In front of them was the Uchiha that was supposed to be imprisoned.

He saw how their faces turned to ones of pain, but he won't go soft handed with his illusions against these two powerful individuals. Genjutsu seemed to be lacking against Aura users, as indicated when tried kidnapping Blake. He would reward them with his disappearance from Remnant, that should be a fine trade.

Walking forward, making his way closer to the enraged and paralyzed Atlesian, ignoring the other headmaster. Sasuke had no doubt he was feeling great pain, but regardless, he looked at him and asked, "where are Roman Torchwick and the woman that was with me?" He would get his answers in one way or another.

* * *

The whole ship was in alarm, and the other larger ships began closing in to support and bring in reinforcements, while the ones inside are doing their best to catch the Uchiha who was now roaming the ship. All they knew was that he was making his way to the bridge in hopes of taking control, but soldiers inside didn't intend to make it easy for him.

"Looks like they didn't find the prisoner yet," one guard said plainly, guarding a particular door near the bow area.

"Yep," answered another guard irritably. "Do you know whose part of the action in chasing down the Uchiha guy instead of watching a damn door?"

The first one sighed. "I'm sure you'll tell me."

"Fuckin' Jenkins," said the second one quickly. "When they went to arrest Sasuke Uchiha in Vale, I was here guarding a damn door for the general, while muthafukin' _Jenkins_ gets to go and take the guy in. And what about now?" He didn't wait for his colleague to answer. "A wanted fugitive is running around, and I'm standing here guarding another _God damned_ door!"

Silence was all that responded to him, not even the sigh he's come to expect.

". . . Murphy?" the second guard called as he turned to see his comrade, but was greeted with a face of another guard looking right at him. "Who the hell are you?"

The only response he got was a sudden punch that broke through the visor and knocked him out; leaving two unconscious bodies watching a door.

Looking towards the now empty hallway, the guard said, "it's clear."

A small woman in an Atlesian pilot uniform walked out, pink hair under her cap, and green eyes under its bill, smiling away as she walked through the warship corridor with a small parasol in hand.

He waited until she was by his side before he went forward to the door these two soldiers were guarding. Pressing a few buttons on the keypad, the door opened revealing Torchwick without his hat, sitting in the small cell similar to what Sasuke was in hours prior.

"Can't a man sleep in his own jail cell?" the captured thief quipped, then looked to the two that greeted him. "Oh, Neo, glad you're here. You won't believe the horrible service these people provide." The small woman only shook her head with a smile. "So, are we leaving?" Roman looked to the second person in the lightish-red armor and peered closer to the name tag. "Your name's 'Donut'? Boy, do I feel bad for your school days."

The soldier took off his visored helmet to reveal familiar red eyes on an unfamiliar face. "Oh shit," cursed the thief in surprise. "Well, didn't expect you to be here. Don't suppose you're breaking me out even after what happened on the train, are you?" The disguised Uchiha shook his head. "Then what are you here for?"

"Dust," answered the ninja. "I want to know where you placed all the Dust we stole, and you will tell me where it is." While he was confident **Shackling Stakes** would hold against two very powerful individuals, he didn't want to risk sticking around for too long.

A clone was fighting and dodging his way while routing the guards far from this particular area, so he wasn't worried about soldiers in this part of the ship. Thankfully, the general informed him of the codes and the cells that held Roman and Neo, so he knew where the people he needed were placed.

Against his will, of course. James Ironwood was a surprisingly resilient man against torture, even though the Uchiha hadn't yet delved into the more painful methods, but when he looked to the staked Ozpin on the side, Ironwood's lips became a little looser before Sasuke could do anything. He gladly gave up two criminals for his comrade; just as he should have.

The Uchiha found Neopolitan first, their equipment second, and finally Roman to complete the objectives before leaving this ship. The next step would be leaving for the place that held the Dust he needed.

Looking towards the oddly silent Neopolitan for assistance, she only shook her head when she understood what he wanted. He frowned before looking towards the 'guard'. "Ah, you see, I'm in kind of a sticky situation," retorted the thief. "And I can't seem to remember where I put it all. A common problem in my family, I'm afraid. Always forgetting important things li-" He froze stiff under the illusion.

Sasuke got tired of waiting for Roman's cooperation and wanted to speed things up. "Where did you store all the Dust we stole?" he asked in a whisper and leaned in to hear the response.

In a dazed voice, Roman answered also in a hushed whisper, "the Dust is in Mount Glenn. Stored under a ruined building near the train station."

After today's events, the other half of the Atlesian armada came back home to quickly support Vale. It wasn't needed and that they couldn't make it back fast enough, but eventually they returned to their posts in Vale's airspace. The larger ships in different districts to show security after the breach, but they were now coming closer to the airship Sasuke was in at the moment.

Adding to the relative ease of it was that Mount Glenn should be cleared of both of Atlesian forces and White Fang. Mostly because one side was killed off by the other, and the surviving side had returned to Vale to bring a sense of security once again to the people.

Walking out of the room and closing the cell door, Sasuke was glad that he got the information he needed. Roman would forget about this discussion, as not risk the fool's anger of informing the general, who most likely would question the crook soon if he hadn't already.

"Let's go, Neo," called 'Donut'. He hated the name of the guard he's impersonating more than the last one. _'Who chooses pink to accent their armor?'_ If there was a reason, the concept was lost on him.

Stopping his trail of thought, he picked up a pistol from one of the unconscious guards, a real one instead of the Chakra construct he had been using, and threw it to Neo. "It's to keep the image, not to fight," he informed quickly, placed his helmet back on, and walked ahead of her to the hanger bay.

One of the reasons the Uchiha gave his companion a gun was to see if she would shoot him as he was in front of her. His Sharingan was active, and ready to put the woman in her place on the first sign if she took the bait. If she didn't, then she was either truly on his side or waiting for a better moment, when it didn't seem like a trap.

Instead of taking aim, Neopolitan placed the gun in the holster she strapped on her belt that she took from the same guard, and continued holding her umbrella in hand nonchalantly.

When they spotted the hanger bay door, the Uchiha spotted another two guards in front of it.

"Halt," said the first, raising his palm, which did little to stop the pink soldier coming his way. "I said halt!" This time he raised his weapon, then fell to the floor unconscious, along with the second one beside him. It seemed they couldn't help but look him in the eye through the visor.

Cameras most definitely caught Sasuke and his companion when they found Torchwick if not before then, but the main force was still fighting a single Sasuke copy. The single shadow clone may not have the Rinnegan or the Sharingan, but even with its limited lifespan, it had most of the soldiers occupied.

What splinter force to come his way won't mean much, as long as the copy took control of the bridge and sabotaged its sensors. . . or destroyed them; whichever's quicker. As long as there was no risk to track airship they would use to leave. Even though the original was somewhere else, the center of controlling a massive airship over a city may be more important.

Entering the bay, there were a few mechanics with a spartan amount of guards to protect them, who immediately went on alert and raised their guns in their direction. When they fired the first shot, their targets shattered like glass, which left all of them confused.

"What the hell just- _Ack!_ " one of them said before a hand chop hit him in the back of the neck. When the rest of the guards turned to see what happened to their comrade, it was too late for they met with the same fate when Sasuke pulled off another of what he did in the Atlesian base. The ones who weren't knocked out were the mechanics and lightly armed pilots, and they froze stiff at the scene.

"Out," the disguised Uchiha ordered. The people here knew _who_ this was, and didn't waste a second as they dropped what they were doing to run out the exits that didn't involve jumping out from a lethal height.

Hearing footsteps, Sasuke turned to see Neo walking towards one of the aircraft in the area that didn't look like the rest, a bullhead. While the rest of the airships were of Atlesian design, this one stood out, and the Uchiha had an idea who used this one.

' _Ozpin's bullhead,'_ he thought in mild amusement. They were going to use the headmaster's vehicle to get out. Neopolitan seemed to know this, and picked it out on purpose while ignoring the other wasp-like aircraft around her.

Once inside the craft, he dispersed his disguise to become himself again. Already, he felt vibrations as guns began peppering the aircraft, and it seemed the small woman noticed it as well.

The Uchiha made a seal, which led to two more shadow clones appearing in a cloud of smoke. The two nodded to the real Uchiha and ran out to face the guards of the warship. Already, the vibrations ceased as they were engaged by two Sasukes.

It wasn't a moment too soon to start leaving, because it turned out the first clone in the bridge did the damage needed to their sensor suites and dispersed to inform the original. "Neo, we must leave now," the Uchiha stated calmly, to which she nodded, began lifting off, and started leaving the warship.

The two clones within dispelled from existence after seeing the job of taking the fire off of them was no longer needed, but they did do some damage to the remaining aircraft to avoid pursuers from the warship.

Spotting the other warships and their respective smaller airships far away but closing in, the Uchiha began phase two of the escape. "Go as high as possible," Sasuke demanded as he stood in the cockpit, which confused his companion, but she nodded regardless and followed the order.

The moment Neopolitan began piloting the craft, the Uchiha had kept a close eye on the controls with his Sharingan, keeping note of the absolute basics of which does what, and he now knew enough.

Sasuke made another shadow clone, and it took the copilot seat beside the now-silent companion when they were going higher into the sunset sky. If the previous order was confusing, then this was even further at the sudden development when the copy began taking control.

She was the taken off from the pilot seat when the real Uchiha grabbed her by her sides and dragged her to the cabin, where the Uchiha made another clone to use.

Again not wasting another moment, both Sasukes jumped out of the bullhead, with Neo held tightly by the original. He couldn't hear her screaming as they began gaining speed and the wind becoming deafening in his ears. The clone took its position under the Uchiha, who bit his thumb, and slammed his palm on its back while screaming an unheard, " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu!** "

In another explosion of smoke, Garuda appeared in Remnant in a dive before leveling out, carrying the Uchiha and his friend, and saving them from being paste on a road. "Head to the southeast as fast as possible, Garuda," he ordered quickly. Soon, the Atlesian force would make visual contact with them once they broke through the clouds, and it would be best to get out of there to avoid that.

The hawk banked to the side and began speeding towards the direction his master indicated, seeming as another bird for those down below and far enough.

Looking back, Sasuke could see the bullhead they were in flying in poor fashion. The clone was capable of keeping it in the air, so that was fine enough for the moment. And to his side, Neopolitan looked in wonder at this creature that came out of nowhere; she was even feeling the feathers just to be sure it was real.

They were supposed to be plummeting to their deaths, but her friend pulled off another amazing summoning, this time in _midair_. Not some battle dog, but a large bird of some kind. Neo felt excited and curious at the same time. She thought he was insane when he jumped out the bullhead thousands of feet into the air, but it all made sense when he made the bird appear.

Now a good distance away, Sasuke peered his Rinnegan and Sharingan eyes to the bullhead once more, and saw how it was being swarmed by Atlesian aircraft. The diversion was a success. He didn't believe he could escape in a bullhead that easily with the entire armada close enough to stop them, so he gave them the belief that it was his plan to leave through the bullhead.

And now, they would capture th- _Boom!_

. . . They would _destroy_ the bullhead he used for a diversion. Not what he was expecting, but perhaps they believed he was too dangerous to live, probably under the order of another officer than the general who should still be under the painful illusion. Of course, if they searched for the bodies in the wreckage, they wouldn't find any.

With that scene over and fading in the distance, a thought went through Sasuke's mind, one he had been hoping for a while. _'I'm coming home, everyone.'_

* * *

Garuda landed on Mount Glenn after a few hours of travel, and the area was just as dead and empty as Sasuke expected. He doubted anything other Grimm to be moving in the area.

Hopping of his hawk summon, the Uchiha looked to Neo, who followed him off the bird in her usual clothes, but she peered at the hawk a little longer, taking note of its large size. She even went as far as petting the summon, to which Garuda allowed uncaringly.

It seemed her Semblance allowed her to change some of her appearance, and that made things easier during the exfiltration. As he thought, Neopolitan would make a fine shinobi.

"Garuda, I will call upon you again when I need you," Sasuke stated, to which the large bird nodded its head before vanishing in an explosion of smoke. "Let's continue. I have prolonged this long enough." He then went his way to find the tunnel that led into underground area.

Neo looked at the empty space where the bird named 'Garuda' was, and then to the ninja. She thought then what she already knew, everything just became that much more interesting with him around. If Sasuke wasn't clearing a whole city of soulless creatures with his own monsters, he was causing inconsistencies in what people believed as fact in several aspects.

She could only imagine how a fight between Sasuke and Cinder would go. So with those thoughts in mind, the petite woman followed her friend that was walking away to a familiar tunnel.

Taking note of his surroundings in the tunnel, he saw bullet holes that most likely weren't there before the raid. As for the gate he often used, it wasn't there in one single piece anymore. It was possibly where the first explosion of the raid occurred.

Sasuke walked past the non-existent entrance to make way deeper, with Neopolitan following closely behind. The Uchiha thought she might have had a question or two, but she remained silent throughout the journey, and it was becoming rather eerie of her.

Considering what he was going to do for the next few hours, the Uchiha probably had a way to get her talking soon enough.

The Konoha-nin walked past the decaying buildings, not giving attention to the blood splatters he spotted, but noticed there were no corpses or bones. _'Either the raiding force took them away or the Grimm consumed them.'_ It doesn't matter to him anymore, he had a complex seal to prepare.

Oddly enough, the Grimm he and Neo met on the way to the train station were rare. He found a few wandering Grimm, but the entire place was generally devoid of life. The only evidence that there were people here recently, besides the blood, were the fresh damage from the battle that took place almost a day previously.

"Do you know where the Dust is stored?" Sasuke asked as they spotted their destination in the distance. He turned his to see that the small woman shook her head, which caused him to form a single seal which caused five shadow clones to come into existence. "Search the nearby buildings and disperse when you find it." The copies nodded and flickered away.

Now with the search underway, the shinobi had one more issue to address, the only living person in the vicinity. "Neo," he called, which brought her attention back to him. "Do you wish to stay here, or come with me to my homeland?" Remnant was _her_ home, and forcing her against her will won't help anyone.

As expected, she looked at him in confusion. From what Sasuke had told people during his time as a White Fang operative, she thought his homeland was destroyed. Unless he meant to visit some ruins, she would like for him to explain a bit further, and gestured exactly that.

Sasuke sighed. Of all the people he could have told this to, Neo wasn't exactly on top of that list, but if he was going to leave with or without her, informing her shouldn't bring harm to anyone and would assist in making her decision. "I'm not from this world," he stated, which brought only a raised brow as a response. "I wasn't born on Remnant. I am from another world completely separate of this one, and in my own search for power I ended up here in this world by mistake."

If he expected even more confusion on her part, Sasuke was wrong since her face turned into one of complete fascination, as though when a child was told a heroic tale. Again, the fact Neopolitan was staying voluntarily silent through all this was disconcerting. He wasn't sure if she was humoring him or actually believed the information he gave.

"After I contacted my world,-" He ignored how bizarre that statement sounded and her amused smirk. "-I was told there was a method to bring me back through the powering of a specific seal," he said as he showed her the storage seal on his wrist, showing her the basic idea. "However, due to its nature of needing a massive amount of potent energy such as souls, we believed it would be best to use an alternative source we do not have in my world, Dust."

It dawned on Neo why he was stealing all the previous Dust, and where he put them when he was paid. He didn't just collect them in those paper rolls she saw him use, but he sent them to another world altogether. Again, he was turning facts on its head.

"Now I'm asking you if you wish to accompany back to my home, the world of ninjas," Sasuke said, and ignored her small laugh at the 'ninjas' bit, possibly from what her own beliefs on what a shinobi was. "What is your answer? To stay here in your birthplace, or to leave forever with me to mine?"

He'd make sure to keep her away from Orochimaru. Sasuke wasn't sure if this person with a completely new biology and non-shinobi abilities would set off the snake sannin's old ways or not. It would definitely excite the researcher, that's for sure.

Neo looked thoughtful, debating whether to believe her friend or not, especially since that statement of world of ninjas was amusing. Weren't they supposed to be sneaky people? Sasuke's techniques were anything but subtle; the monster that appeared on Vale wasn't exactly unseen.

Well, he had invaded an Atlesian fortress, Beacon, and was studying at that very academy while being a wanted man; so perhaps it wasn't too difficult to imagine him being a sneaky kind of ninja. And that was saying nothing about his use of the transformation technique he's fond of.

After some deliberation, the short-statured woman nodded furiously before going in for a hug to show appreciation for taking her on an adventure with him, but was held back from wrapping her arms around the person when a sudden hand placed itself on her forehead and held her in place. "I will take that as you are coming with me," the owner of that hand said with no amusement whatsoever.

The Uchiha dropped his arm when she stopped trying to push forward, and then went to sit on an almost intact bench that was close by, waiting for one of his clones to bring him the information he needed.

"Why have you stopped speaking, Neo?" Sasuke asked when he felt her plop on the same seat beside him. She wasn't usually this silent, so it began irking him the further they went on without hearing her voice. When he saw her simply shrug nonchalantly and point towards him, it became annoyingly clear. "Because of my order?" Neopolitan nodded.

Yes, Sasuke demanded of her to stay quiet a few times, especially in recent events, but she should have at least said something by now. "You may speak now," he told her. It was awkward to say as it felt like telling a child a basic necessity, but was taking things literally and to the extreme. The woman shrugged and remained quiet, as though content with the state of affairs.

Sighing, the Konoha-nin said, "as you wish." It's not like she could stay quiet forever, anyway. Perhaps the teleportation to a different world would get rid of the cat that caught her tongue.

The Uchiha recounted what happened since the beginning of his journey on Remnant. He had to admit, the technology of this world far surpassed his own, and would be most beneficial if he took some with him. Unfortunately, nothing of what he would have wanted was on him to be reverse engineered.

He knew that the Elemental Nations would do just fine without them, but it would certainly make several aspects of life for many people easier.

Only a few minutes of silence and thought passed when memories hit him from a clone. "The Dust has been found," Sasuke told his companion, and began walking to find the building that held it. He heard steps behind him, indicating that his comrade was following closely.

With each step, he was getting closer to his goal, the one he had been hunting for so long, for months. And soon, his worry of Remnant being his prison would soon be put to rest.

The two reached the building, and as Roman stated, it was close to the train station; in mere walking distance from the bench he was using, and the Dust inside was _vast_. From sight alone in this expanded basement, there were freight containers atop of even more freight containers with Dust manufacturers logos imprinted on them.

 _This_ was his way home.

The Uchiha clones from previously all flickered to his side, and he immediately gave them sealing scrolls he made long ago to carry containers of this size, but he wasn't going to let four copies do them by themselves, as he also unsealed even more storage scrolls for him to use. "I want this place empty of Dust," he told his shadow clones.

While it was a wonder why the Atlesians didn't recover these, it may have been because of the Grimm invasion of Vale, and that forced them to rush without properly sweeping the area. Considering the Schnee Dust Corporation and the amount of Dust here, it's more than possible for them to return and search properly, so he would rather not stay around too long.

This room carried enough Dust for him to possibly make the trip twice. He didn't want to think of their worth here on Remnant; possibly enough to make him among the richest people in this world, but he didn't care about something as trivial as that.

Neopolitan was watching in wonder how quick four copies and an original were clearing the _whole_ place out from containers. It took half an hour and many scrolls to contain them all, but it was done; the Uchiha had finally collected all the Dust he needed and extra.

A small pyramid of scrolls was where all the Dust was in, and it was time for them to be sent somewhere where they would be put to use.

After Drawing blood from his thumb, Neopolitan watched in interest when he placed his palm on the floor, and heard for the second time, " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu!** " The familiar seal she had seen appeared before the explosion of smoke, but there was no large hawk or massive dog inside, but rather a _very_ large, green snake.

"Summoner," Tatsuya greeted respectfully, then looked to the second human in the room. "Is she my payment for my services?" He stuck his tongue out to have a good smell of his possible snack. Said snack whistled at the impressively talking snake, but that turned to discomfort at the look she was getting from it.

"No, Tatsuya, you can't eat her," the Uchiha dryly told the ever-growing serpent. He had to look upwards for eye contact, since the snake was as large as a bullhead with the girth to fit three people comfortably, and that was with him coiled onto himself. He heard Neo take a backward step when he clarified what the snake meant by 'payment'. "I have all the Dust necessary for the seal, and a companion to come with me."

The large snake actually looked disappointed from the lack of food, but Tatsuya only grunted before saying, "understood. I will take the Dust and deliver them to the Wise Elder." Sasuke only pointed towards the pyramid, in which his summon slithered to the scrolls' side before swallowing in groups with his elastic mouth.

After the last bite, Tatsuya looked towards his summoner. "Your den should be most pleased to hear of the news," he stated. "Summon me again in a half-hour's time for a message and instructions from your people." With that, he vanished from the face of Remnant.

And thus, the two were alone in a basement, unknowing of what to do for thirty minutes other than simply wait. A conversation was pretty one-sided at this point in time.

Sasuke heard some scratching, then felt a tug on shirt, and looked to see Neo holding her blade while pointing it to the floor for him to see what she scratched out. When he saw what it was, he looked to his companion with the blandest look, and said, "no." Then walked to leave the building.

He would not play tic-tac-toe for a straight half hour.

Over the course of the thirty minutes, Neo had been rather insistent on things to play, even wordlessly suggesting a small spar which was refused in case he needed his full energy and health for forming the seal. So they simply settled with sitting down and waiting for the time to pass, but he did offer some basic information of his home such as the nations and their qualities.

He told her how he was born in the nation of Konohagakure, and how common flame related techniques were with its people, how Sunagakure specialized in wind and such, etc. Essentially, it was academy grade education of the world he was telling her about. He kept the fighting styles to himself, but did say how people fought vastly different from Remnant's, like how people didn't use guns and depended more on small blades more often than full length swords.

Sasuke knew of the pistol she still had from the warship, but he let her keep it. Chances were she was skilled with a firearm and would most likely make great use of it back home; the 'umbrella' even more so, which, oddly enough, was also a weapon in his own world, so it should fit right in.

"It would be best if I were to take you on a mission with me, to show you what you would be facing before going out on your own or with others," the Uchiha stated, which had the multi-colored woman get excited even more. He trusted other shinobi to take her with them and handle the mission well, but Neo might be a rather unique case and most probably should do it himself first.

He waited long enough. "It's time," Sasuke stated. He would continue briefing his companion back home, but for now, it was time to begin returning to where he belonged. He stood up from the bench, and walked over the map of the Elemental Nations he drew on the dirt for Neo to see.

With a bleeding thumb, he summoned once more, " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu!** " The petite woman enjoyed seeing the seal pattern and the smoke explosion. It was evidence of where her friend was truly from.

"Tatsuya, you have news for me?" asked the misplaced shinobi. "I would rather not stay around more than I already have." And that was months.

The large snake nodded. "The seal pattern was already prepared in Ryuchi Cave long ago, and powerful people from many nations have come to donate their Chakra for the seal," he informed. "I heard that blonde, human friend of yours was the reason so many people joined."

All Sasuke could do was scoff. _'Of course he would,'_ Sasuke thought in amusement. He felt another tug on his shirt, saw that Neo was pouting before she mouthed 'friend?'. "Yes, a friend of mine back home," the Uchiha clarified. "One of the very few people who can fight on par with me, and the only one alive I call brother." Was she seriously getting jealous?

"Tatsuya, continue," Sasuke said to get back on track, ignoring the pouting woman beside him. Although, she did seem interested when he said that Naruto could fight as an equal to him.

Nodding, the large garter snake continued. "They gave me the equipment for you to draw the seal, and also the pattern itself with the details for how it _must_ be drawn. I doubt I need to tell you what would happen if you get it wrong."

The Konoha-nin nodded, he knew full well the dangers of fuinjutsu when done incorrectly. Chances were, with a seal this delicate and powerful, it might destroy Mount Glenn if mistakes in the art were made.

"Good. The Wise Elder made it imperative I inform you that at least a few more times, just to ascertain the gravity of how complicated this seal is," Tatsuya informed, then spat out one red storage scroll and four green regular ones, which possessed different markings than what Sasuke usually made in Remnant. "The tools needed is in the red one, while the patterns and details of each quadrant of the seal are in the green scrolls. I will remain until you complete it."

Sasuke nodded in understanding. Once the seal was complete on this end, the process shall begin on the other. With Tatsuya being the one who would relay the information, he would vanish back to inform the White Snake Sage.

Unrolling the paper scroll that possessed the equipment, the Uchiha saw the usually intricate seal used for storing objects. He made a hand seal and said, " **Release!** " And popped out where an assortment of large and small brushes, inks, senbon with some painted in different colors, and measuring tools. The odd thing of those were the several broom-sized brushes he, and his clones seemingly, were going to work with.

Neo picked up one of the large brushes up, clearly showing how small she was compared to it, and twirled it around a bit before placing it back on the ground. She was fascinated about the concept of storing these things within what might as well be ink on paper, and that was saying nothing about the explosives he spoke about.

Next, Sasuke opened a scroll labeled '1', and just as he was informed, it held very precise and complicated details of the first quarter for the seal he needed. One thing he did note however, was the space needed to draw it. "It's certainly a large seal," Sasuke commented, to which his summon nodded. Fortunately, he had all the space needed in this empty underground city.

If he needed more, then he could tear down one of the already falling buildings.

The dimensions described on each stroke were written in red, indicating their importance. There was a miniature sketch drawn on the scroll, merely showing the pattern needed of how the whole seal should look from above. Circles inside more circles that already held smaller circles and runes, that was the dumbed down description of what Sasuke saw as the main pattern.

At least he knew what the measuring tools were for now, to measure the thickness of each line to its precise girth. If it was off by even a small margin, then the design was flawed and would require meticulous cutting and scraping on his part with a kunai, or drawn from scratch altogether.

Making this seal would be best with the maximum amount of shadow clones for him to use, Sasuke was ready to start the moment he made the hand seal for his copies to appear. "Each one of you are to take a section of the seal to draw." He'd make sure to triple check with his Dojutsu once they're done, but even before then he would go around drawing what he could.

The handful of clones nodded with determination, then they picked up the large brushes and the lidded buckets of ink they were going to use for the seal.

Sasuke watched as his six clones began opening a green scroll before immediately getting to work. The needed to mark certain spots and measure the area needed first before beginning the sketching. So they would use the senbon that came with the tools to mark each key point. Different colors were to be used for each quadrant as not to get accidentally drawn outside of their limits, and to connect with the others quarters.

They ended up using a large yard that may have been a park once, but the trees have fallen and the pond was dried away, so it was a perfect spot to clear a flat and smooth surface with the help of some earth Jutsu, making a small, leveled, circular, stone plateau.

"Neo, stay on the side and do not disturb anyone of us," Sasuke said as he heard steps that weren't his or any of his clones. He was using the normal-sized brush to make a one of the smaller symbols when he heard her approach. "A single mistake could cause the seal to malfunction and lead us to our deaths." A seal this big could no doubt cause catastrophic damage quickly.

He heard a huff before she walked away, choosing to sit on this new earthen plateau than see what her friend was doing. To the side, he saw her sit cross-legged and simply wait for him to finish. _'If she's hoping I would finish this in the next five minutes, she is sorely mistaken.'_

A seal like this needed hours, and that was with the revision of each segment, so it would take patience which he didn't think Neo had. Especially when he flickered behind her when she attempted wrap her arms around his neck lovingly a few seconds after he told her to stay away.

She looked back at him with another pout, before promptly running off somewhere off the stone plateau and into the distance.

"Your new mate is surely an odd one," Tatsuya said as he slithered closer to him.

"She is not my 'mate' or anything of the sort," Sasuke replied irritably. "Merely someone who has helped me and is willing to join me in my return home, that is all." He began thinking of the other people he had met, most notably were the teams back at Beacon.

Ozpin and his faculty were hospitable enough before they found out about him, Roman was a business associate and no more, team RWBY hated his guts, team JNPR _should_ hate his guts regardless if he helped one of their teammates or not. CFVY were good people and were better off without the company of any shinobi.

Then there was the White Fang he helped. The few people who came to assist on his Dust robberies kept their distance, either out of hatred for humanity or they knew he was out of their league, but then there was Claire Durand. . .

He shook his head to focus on the seal instead of distracting memories. She was a good and helpful woman who was at the wrong place in the wrong time with her own beliefs, that's all. She was a comrade to him before the train event, but then turned enemy because of their conflicting beliefs.

Stealing all the Dust from the White Fang back then wouldn't have been the smartest decisions, which was why he was concerned about this seal. If he failed making the seal, then he would have no other income of Dust, no second chance of finding it at a large scale besides small-scale thievery from stores and ships. He didn't have the information and technicians his former group had, and this was the risk for saving Vale against the White Fang.

Sasuke hoped it paid off, because there was no retry and no Roman to pay him.

Hours and hours of similar thoughts if he failed passed, but he was finally done. His Rinnegan and Sharingan helped greatly in spotting the flaws, almost as helpful as the kunai he used to scrape the blemishes off the solid ground it tarnished.

Indeed, the seal wasn't perfect at the first check up and he had to fix it, even the second check proved there were imperfections. Sasuke kept on checking until it was perfect, but even then he reviewed the massive scribe several more times until he was convinced.

"It's complete," the Uchiha told his snake summon, tired of the extreme focus he had to do to make sure everything was correct, but not tired enough to stop the feeling of excitement that was welling up in him. _'I'm coming home.'_

Again, he heard footsteps that weren't his own, and his clones dispelled a while ago, so it could only be one other person in this decaying city. Turning around, he spotted his travel companion. "Neo, are you certain you would leave your own world forever?" This was a one-way trip, so he had to ask for a final conformation.

But again, she nodded furiously, excited at the prospect of seeing another world of people similar to the Uchiha.

Sasuke wasn't sure where she had been these past few hours, but he didn't really care about what she did to amuse herself instead of watching the him sketch the seal onto the ground. From the large broom of a brush, to the small pin-like ones, he made sure every stroke and branching was accurate to the details required.

"Stand in the center circle and wait for the seal to activate," Tatsuya informed the both of them. "I will inform those in Ryuchi Cave of your completion. Merely power the seal as soon as I leave, and wait." The large snake vanished at the Uchiha's nod.

Turning to his travel companion, Sasuke informed, "be sure to step _over_ the ink. Otherwise, all this work and Dust are for naught." At her nod, the Uchiha walked forward stepping over the lines he made and painstakingly corrected to the exact proportions. He made sure to keep an eye on Neo in case she did some mistake or sabotage.

Until they were both in a different world than Remnant's, he would watch his back in case this woman tried something. He was probably just being paranoid since he was among killers back in his own world, but paranoia was what helped ninjas survive.

Thankfully, neither Sasuke nor Neo had done any damage to the seal, and stood in the center circle he had drawn. Neopolitan by his side, excited in seeing this other world of the Uchiha's, a world of shinobis where assassins walked past you daily.

"Don't move an inch," the ninja ordered as crouched with his palms touching the ground. Sending Chakra down to the stone, it immediately came to contact with the ink which began absorbing and molding it into a particular quality the more lines it went through. "It's beginning."

The Uchiha could _feel_ how the energy began changing its form the more he poured in, becoming something he had never seen before. With every branching stroke routing Chakra to a different part of the seal, the more Sasuke was convinced of its complexity.

Neo watched as the ink began emitting a fire-like, blue energy, which was very different from what Aura should even look like. The more it passed through the ink Sasuke had drawn, the more excited she felt. There was the chance that he was lying, but that doubt was quickly draining away.

When the blue energy was finally coursing through the ink lines, circles, and symbols, the Uchiha felt the excitement as well. His Chakra was coursing through this ink like blood in his veins, rotating around the massive seal that covered the entire top of plateau he made, never seeming to slow down or lessen. Indeed, he poured in quite a chunk of his Chakra for this seal, but it was worth it.

The two only waited for two seconds when something happened. In front of them in the air, a black cloud began forming, and then lightning began striking from it, hitting particular parts of the seal until they looked like electric wires holding the cloud in place.

Sasuke looked to his side to check on Neo, and the look on her face was part excitement and part fear. Needless to say, since the cloud began expanding with a hole in the center, but not the kind where you saw what's behind it, but just a swirling, pitch black, oval. Already the two began feeling the portal lightly pulling them from their place and into it like a vortex, and the sensation was increasing steadily.

 _'Finally,'_ the Uchiha thought in relief, but it was short lived when the suction feeling faded. _'What is this?'_ Could it have been another part of the seal? He didn't know and hoped it was part of the process.

The Uchiha's eyes widened. Instead of sucking them in, something purple was coming out, and quickly shot it towards the decaying city, flying above his head. He turned around to see what the hell it was, but another thing passed over his head as he was turned, and struck the same place the first one did.

Looking back to the portal, he noticed that it was shrinking until it was back to its cloud form. Sasuke kept watching, hoping that it would grow larger again, but it wasn't meant to be as it disappeared into nothingness. He activated his Rinnegan as quickly as he could, but saw nothing.

There was no energy swirling or rotating around him in the seal, not even in the air where the cloud and lightning were.

However, there was still a small mystery Sasuke needed to be answered. He ran across the ink, uncaring that he ruined hours of hard work. He didn't even care that Neo wasn't following, merely standing there in the center of the ruined seal, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

Sasuke stood over the two entities that flew over his head, and was equal parts surprised and frustrated.

"Jūgo?" the Uchiha questioned as he spotted that familiar orange hair and large build in the purple tunic, but then he looked to the other one that followed him. "Suigetsu?"

The seal hadn't failed, it backfired.

* * *

 **Uh oh, a long AN ahead. Damn it, but I need it.**

 **I know I'm probably gonna lose followers/favorites from these additions, and maybe even find some reviews of disappointment, but I don't really care about it that much. What goes on with this story has been, for the most part, planned through before you guys even read the first chapter. I understand that some people don't like new characters being added, but I never disconnected the world of Naruto and RWBY, otherwise, a way home wouldn't be possible, and the story setting would be like 95% of the fics out there. Praise or not, this story goes my way, and my way only. . . And I like Jugo.**

 **Trivia:**

 **1-** **Team RWBY was actually supposed to be the ones raiding the train in the initial outline, but considering how I changed the plot, I thought it would be more logical for Ozpin and James to send the more experienced CFVY after knowing the whereabouts. Now imagine, instead of Coco, Blake meeting Sasuke in the train after what he did at the dance.**

 **2-** **Of the people who were nominees to appear (in pairs or alone) on Remnant in this chapter were: Gaara (imagine the anarchy!), Killer Bee, Raikage Ay, Kankurō, Temari, and. . . Rock Lee. How great would it be for Sasuke needing to work with Rock Lee? He would bring the springtime of youth!**

 **3-** **I wanted the team to be named JNSS (Genesis), but it really didn't work out with RWBY's naming format of the leader being the first letter. The other was SHJN (Shogun), but I thought it was too much of a stretch with the 'J' not sounding close enough to a 'G' in the word.**


	16. Never Will It Be Forgotten

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 **Chapter 16, the long awaited!**

 **If you haven't read the rewritten first 4 chapters,** **you need to do so before reading this one** **. It didn't change much in terms of setting, but it changed enough. How any of you even thought they were tolerable before is beyond me. If you** _ **have**_ **read them, then I'm not gonna keep you waiting any longer. . . but prepare to be sorely disappointed. #SelfDeprication #CripplingSelfDoubt :)**

 **This fic from here on out becomes single person perspective. You'll read the thoughts of and the story through one person's eyes.**

* * *

 **It's Been A Long Time, But It Wasn't Intended; I Made Too Many Mistakes That Needed To Be Mended!**

* * *

 **Chapter Sixteen: Never Will It Be Forgotten**

"How did this happen?" Sasuke growled out where he stood. Both Suigetsu and Jūgo sitting across of him on a bench in the ruins of Mountain Glenn, neither worse for wear from their little travel through dimensions. "The seal was drawn out perfectly as specified, the amount of Dust I delivered was more than enough to cover it. So how is it that not only am I still here, but now you two as well?"

The Sharingan and Rinnegan were both used for the countless revisions and corrections he made, it was impossible to be from his end. He needed to summon Tatsuya again, to make sure just what the hell happened in Ryūchi Cave.

All Suigetsu did was shrug. "Don't ask me, I was only there to bring and guard Jūgo in Ryūchi Cave," he told him. "I'm fine, by the way. Definitely wasn't hurt slamming into Mr. Bipolar like a bullet or anything."

A glare from Sasuke was his response to that quip, but had no effect. Looking at his comrades, there was almost no change to them besides being a little taller, and he hadn't seen them long before even coming to Remnant. Looking behind him, Neo leaned on a wall just watching the trio.

 _'She knows too much. . .'_ the Uchiha thought before looking to the floor. He wasn't going to kill her, but he _was_ going to keep her on a close leash until he was fully convinced of her loyalty. _'If you weren't convinced, then why did you bring her in the first place?'_ He didn't know the answer.

No, that wasn't right. He knew the answer perfectly well. Her loyalty would have been locked in when they arrived in Konoha, and he trusted her enough to know she wouldn't stab him in the back. Now? She's become kind of an unpredictable liability, but he trusted her even if it was to an extent.

One small sign against her would be her last, however.

Damn it. . .

He shook his head. He'd cross that bridge when he came upon it. "Just tell me how the hell you two came through the portal," he demanded of them to get back on track. He'll give time for his home to investigate what happened with the seal, they'd know more in that regard than him. Perhaps he could find out some information from these two.

Jūgo nodded and Suigetsu shrugged. "When I heard your home was looking for Chakra donors, I volunteered to help with the seal," Jūgo began then gestured to the Kiri-nin. "I couldn't bring myself to enter alone, so I left Orochimaru and went to Kirigakure and get Suigetsu to make sure I don't do anything 'drastic'." Sasuke knew exactly what he meant.

"You're still training the future Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Suigetsu?" the Uchiha asked. He still had the Kubikiribōchō peering over his shoulder from the deal he struck with the Mizukage to keep it.

"Hey, until the Mizukage allows me permanent ownership till my death, I'm still a teacher for those pissants," he said with a shrug. It certainly helped he was trained to master every one of the seven swords early on with Mangetsu, so his experience must be invaluable when they got those missing blades back, minus Samehada that should still be with Killer B.

The Uchiha looked back to Jūgo for him to continue. "After I found Suigetsu and asked-" "Badgered!" "-him to keep me in control, we went to Konoha and waited until it was time, then onto Ryūchi Cave where the thousands of ninjas gathered because of Naruto Uzumaki."

That last bit made Sasuke raise his brow. Bringing people together? Sounded like something Naruto could do, something Sasuke wasn't very adept in. Thousands, though? That was a surprising number that only a Kage summit could bring. Well, not 'only' anymore.

The bipolar man continued. "I took my spot on the front end of the seal, where I was specifically placed to be kept under watch by Suigetsu and other ninjas." So they didn't trust him enough to control his 'beast mode' and kept him where everyone could see him, the Uchiha found it understandable. Especially since he only uses Nature Chakra which was what causes him to go berserk, and was what he had to be using to donate.

Suigetsu continued for his charge. "After the Chakra began circulating the seal along with the energy from those crystal things, a black portal appeared in front of us, and then decided to suck us in instead of spitting you out. Our luck for being literally in the face of the damn thing." He then looked to Jūgo. "I'm blaming you, by the way."

It sounded identical to Sasuke's, the only difference being the end result. Were the seals in the wrong places? Sasuke couldn't even imagine the White Snake Sage allowing such an amateurish mistake. No, there had to be more to it, he just needed to give them time to investigate. Regardless, he'll need to summon Tatsuya soon and let them know what happened on his end.

"Are you gonna introduce us to pinky over there or what?" Suigetsu said as he looked to Neo's direction. "I was told you were bringing a friend, but didn't think you were bringing a kid." She must have heard, because she flipped him off. "Huh, I see you taught her something from our world."

Looking at the woman, Sasuke kept thinking of ways to deal with her. "Her name's Neopolitan, chances are she's older than you," he replied. "I used to work for her partner to get all those crystals you mentioned. She's been of help during my stay here on Remnant, and is now in my charge until I know what to do with her now that she knows about the ninja world and myself."

That last bit held more truth than he would've liked.

"You can just kill her, it'd make things easier," Suigetsu offered, but Sasuke ignored that idea of altogether, and she must've heard that too, considering she now had two middle fingers pointed at him. "Tell you what, I'll do it for you."

"You won't be doing anything of the sort, she's a comrade of ours whether you like it or not." And now he saw Neo stick her tongue at the Kiri-nin. "Neo," Sasuke called out as he looked to her with a serious look. "While I say you won't be harmed, if you so much as hint to anyone anything about the truth of my origin, it won't be _him_ that kills you. Understood?"

That put her tongue back in her mouth, and now she stood there staring at the Uchiha neutrally, until she shrugged and did a zipping motion on her mouth. He felt there was a joke there, and he knew she clearly understood despite that grin she now had. For her sake, he hoped so.

"Regardless if that woman has becomes part of our group or not, what are we supposed to do now?" Jūgo asked. "I assume we're going to whatever village you were in until a solution is made."

There would've been silence, but Neo began to giggle, which didn't fit well with Sasuke's annoyed sigh.

"I'm guessing you made your mark on this world," Suigetsu stated in amusement at his irritation. "What'd you do, go on another avenger quest?" He then looked around the ruined city. "I'd say your destruction of the village part was rather successful. Good job."

Ignoring Suigetsu was easy, mostly because Sasuke had to think of his next move with these two added into the mix. _'Mistral's criminal underworld should house us well, but would it be that easy?'_ Getting there would be an ordeal in of itself, but doable. It's the hunt for him that would be the real hindrance, especially with everything he had done and shown.

"I became a wanted man as I worked with a criminal who in turn worked for a Faunus insurgent group," the Uchiha began explaining to the two. "Recently, there was a plan I wasn't aware of to destroy a plaza to bring in Grimm to ravage the city, and I betrayed them in the midst of it in order to stop it, but it still happened and I had to summon a small army of dogs to purge the city of said Grimm. After that, I was arrested and later escaped to enact the seal. Now I'm possibly the most wanted man on Remnant."

 _Now_ there was silence, which was fitting in his opinion.

"What's a Faunus?"

"The hell's Grimm?"

Sasuke sighed again. He had a lot of explaining to do and plans to make. One of which included dealing with a rather bothersome headmaster and an angry general. He just hoped it didn't come down to that particular plan.

* * *

"Have you found him yet?" Ironwood asked the officer through his earpiece, then frowned at the reply. "Then keep searching. He couldn't have left Vale." He signed off with a grunt and turned towards his two colleagues in Ozpin's office.

"Couldn't have left Vale?" Glynda repeated his words. "It's been almost a day since his escape from your ship, no corpse and no sighting since then. He could be already on a ship to Mistral by now, and that's _if_ he hasn't mind-controlled his way out."

"We have combinations of Atlesian Knights, soldiers and airships guarding the borders," James defended. "And we have reason to believe Sasuke Uchiha can't control droids, so he couldn't have went through without us knowing." There wan't combat or damage reported, so he couldn't have left via land, and his attempt to leave through the air was denied _explosively_.

 _'If he's not dead, then he's hiding within the city,'_ James thought irritably as he looked past his friends towards the view of Vale. Unfortunately, Sasuke found himself some staunch support, which made things more difficult than it already was. "Roman should shed some light on the situation when he starts being more compliant."

Torchwick was the last to speak to the Uchiha, but denied to help them. He was visibly angry after he awoke, but went into a charade about not being able to remember; a common problem in his family, apparently. The last bit annoyed the general at such a mocking lie.

Roman can play his little game, because he wasn't being let out anytime soon. Not until he talks, at least. If he doesn't, then there were several prisons vying for him. If James had his way, he had a cold prison cell ready for the thief to occupy for the remainder of his life.

"And what happened in the ship?" Glynda asked. "I understood that he was secured and low on Aura. How could he have escaped?" A valid question, in the general's opinion, but one he couldn't answer fully.

It was Ozpin who took the lead, thankfully. "It seems Sasuke had another ability hidden up his sleeve, teleportation. As for being low an Aura, we only assumed that was the case, which clearly wasn't true." When he summoned that massive beast, it was more of an educated guess than an assumption, but his escape threw that out the window very quickly.

"Another ability?" Glynda sighed out. "I'm starting to believe that theory of him consuming other people for their Semblance." James was as well. "Teleportation and you don't think he could have escaped Vale?"

James shook his head. "It must be short range teleportation, otherwise things would have went vastly different." The combat footage with Winter when he had to run for a while before suddenly 'appearing' between her and the lock down switch was a clue, the other rare moments caught on camera being either very impressive speed or that teleportation ability just after the attack on the CCT.

"So how could he escape two headmasters in the same room with him?" Glynda asked, causing the very two to look at each other. "Both of you've been oddly quiet about it. What did he do to you two?"

Shaking his head, Ozpin answered, "we're not sure. What he used on us seemed to be an illusion, but all I can say for certain is that it's another eye technique of his." He leaned back with a sigh. "In fact, his eyes might be a source for most of his techniques."

The general rolled his shoulder at that particularly painful memory, and agreed with his friend's sentiment. It wasn't even counting how the Uchiha could use nature's wrath so freely, unless they were linked to the eyes as well. At least he had an idea of what to remove first when Sasuke's captured again.

"Chances are he's hiding in one of your citizen's homes," he said to the two. "You saw how support for him has grown, someone in the city has to be housing him until he escapes." Regardless if Sasuke saved a few from the Grimm, he was the one who helped put them there in the first place. Damn fools.

"Or altered their mind to allow him, or he could even be posing as them in their own home," Ozpin added. "Your soldiers might have seen him and be none the wiser." It crossed his mind multiple times that it would be the case.

"Or he could've escaped outside the walls of Vale," Goodwitch said as she fiddled with her Scroll.

James sighed. Uchiha was powerful, there was no denying that, but his reports didn't indicate anything that said he left. "Glynda, while it's possible, chances are-" Her Scroll was shoved in his face. "Oh. . ." There goes his theories out the window.

On her Scroll showed a live camera feed outside the main gate of Vale. In front of said gate, the Uchiha himself with several guards, droids, and soldiers from Vale and Atlas aimed their weapons towards him. He wasn't doing anything besides raising his arms up in the air in surrender.

There was no way he- * _Beep_ * "What is it?" James nearly shouted in his earpieces. "If you're going to inform me about Sasuke Uchiha being at the gate, I already know." Two seconds passed before he finally said, "good. Tell the men not to move and keep an eye on Sasuke Uchiha, and make sure to watch the other gates and walls if this is a diversion."

When he looked back to his two friends, Ozpin was on a call about directing Huntsmen towards that area, and Glynda was watching the feed carefully for any update. They had to be thinking the same thing he was. It was a trap of some kind, it had to be.

Before James voice his thoughts, Ozpin said, "I just spoke with one of the people on scene, Sasuke Uchiha is requesting an audience with us." He did a double take at that. "By 'us' I mean James and myself, not the council." That was an odd move. He and Ozpin had power, but it would be the council that would usually handle these things. "What do you think, James?"

Was he actually requesting his opinion on a matter? It's been a while since that happened. "He'll be interrogated, but not by us," he said. "We are the ones hunting him, so if he's coming to us, then it could be for a parlay, one I don't intend to provide." And if an opportunity presented itself, take away those damn eyes of his. "I'm still sore from that technique he put me through, and I intend to pay him back in kind."

"Surely he knew you wouldn't grant his request, so why would he come back?" Glynda voiced as she saw in the feed Huntsmen arrive on the scene, their weapons added to the arsenal pointed Sasuke's way. "You don't really believe he's come just to be captured again, do you?"

"It could be arrogance. He did escape from a secure ship before and ran away with that woman that was with him," James replied, ignoring Ozpin's cough. "He even might've learned of his popularity and hoped to use that to sway public opinion and coerce the council for pardon or asylum." He wasn't going to let that happen, no matter what those naïve civilians thought and whatever those opportunistic politicians did.

Unluckily for the criminal, he came to them first out of what could only be false hope.

"So we quickly place him under arrest in your ship again since it's under Atlas jurisdiction and away from Vale's council authority?" The general nodded at Glynda's deduction. "The same ship he escaped before from two Huntsmen academy headmasters in the same room where he was chained?"

"We were caught off guard with an ability we didn't know he possessed and in a misinformed state," he countered heatedly. "It won't happen again, I'll make sure of it." Glynda didn't look convinced at all. "If you have another plan that doesn't involve giving him the spotlight to manipulate the people, I'm all ears. Mind you we need to act quickly before others find out."

Ozpin looked to Glynda for some guidance, who sighed and nodded, then looked back to the general. "Alright, James, we'll do it your way, but I want the three of us to be there when you interrogate him." Glynda nodded to that.

Good, they were able to see reason as he hoped, and the added force of them won't be something he would refuse, so he nodded. "If he wants to be captured, I will oblige that request with interest," he said as he tapped on his earpiece. "Bring him to my flagship, blind and bound. Be sure to send a security detail of Huntsmen until he's in a cell." He signed off on that, and walked to Glynda to watch the camera feed.

As instructed, the Atlesian guards brought his hands back into handcuffs, a bag now over his head to blind him fully. It wasn't that different from the last time, but he was being compliant like before, which made things all the more suspicious. It didn't matter, since in the bullhead with him would be full of wary Huntsmen instead of soldiers.

"Let's go, I'll have a dropship at the port ready to take us to my flagship ASAP." He began walking to the elevator when the two started following close behind. "I'll have him in an interrogation room with several Atlesian Knights, and just outside a few Huntsmen as contingency." A single questionable move would mean that vagrant's end at the barrel of a droid's gun.

"And what's stopping him from summoning those dogs again, or teleporting outside the room away from the Huntsmen?" Glynda asked as the elevator began taking him them down.

"The entire ship will be put on alert, Huntsmen and soldiers will be ready for an escape." He even called in the other battleship to support, and should be in close enough distance to assist for anything.

He saw Glynda furrow her brows. "That's all? Do you actually think he'd let you stop him?" No, but having three veteran Huntsmen onboard in spitting distance only helped his case.

"The three of us will be close by, so are you doubting our combined fighting ability as well?" Her scoff told him her answer. After a short walk across Beacon in silence, they reached the designated dropship intended for them and sat inside.

Taking out his Scroll to see a different feed, James now had Sasuke in an interrogation room, cuffed, blinded, and watched. The room held four Atlesian Knights, all of which had their guns point towards the criminal's head. If he so much as moved in a wrong way, it would be his last.

Moving to a different camera view just outside the room, he saw the several Huntsmen he commissioned to guard the door, all of who had their weapons out and fully alert. Good. If he tried to escape again, it won't go as well as the last.

He kept watching the feeds until he felt the dropship land in the hanger bay merely a minute later. The ramp dropped, and he stepped outside first, nodding to the soldiers and officers there to greet him aboard before going on his way.

"Come, we'll be in a separate room to survey the questioning." And also be close enough to intervene should he do anything stupid. He wanted their audience? Fine, might as well hear what he has to say now that he's properly in chains before his sentencing.

"You're pulling out all the stops, I see," Glynda commented from behind him, noticing the overhaul in security in this specific ship. She knew why, of course. "Not sure how they could stop him if he summoned that dog inside here."

"I have the other ship close by for a reason, cannons charged and ready." If he summoned that massive thing inside, then the ship was going to fall regardless. The moment it reared any of its ugly heads, it would be quickly bombarded.

Soldiers saluted him as he walked by as expected of them, and that happened a lot with the amount of people quickly redirected to guard duty on this ship. Chances were the people noticed the rush and diversion of troops, he just didn't want the conclusions made just yet.

A long hallway and several corners later, the trio entered a room with a few personnel that stood up and saluted them, and with three times as many monitors. A few with different angles on Sasuke, others on different parts of the ship, all of which had guards on screen. Most of which were concentrated in areas near the interrogation room.

"As you were," the general said, letting the people around to sit back down to their consoles. The three stood in front of the center screen, showing the criminal in all his bound glory. "I assume nothing's changed since his capture?" he asked the nearest technician.

"No, sir, nothing's changed," the man said. "No reports of contact at the border, no sightings of suspicious individuals in the ship, all personnel are accounted for and cleared, but unfortunately the Aura readings on the prisoner are inconclusive as before."

James look to the bar that indicated Sasuke's Aura levels. Like reported from the previous capture and his time at Beacon, the bar flashed from full to empty and back constantly, never settling anywhere. If there's one truth the thief might've told, it had to be that his electric Aura sabotaged measuring systems.

 _'Damn convenient for you,'_ he thought with annoyance, then nodded to the officer right in front of him. "Begin the questioning and recording." There was no way he didn't regenerate all of his Aura by now, no amount of it would stop the damage of several headshots by the droids. Even if it wouldn't kill him since it was blunted by his Aura, bullets to the skull turned to hammers, and there's no leaving unscathed this time.

"Yes, sir," the officer said before leaning onto the microphone, then held down a button. "State your name and place of birth."

The covered head moved up an inch. " _Sasuke Uchiha._ " There was a pause, likely out of deliberation to either tell the truth or lie. " _Birthplace is the village of Konoha._ "

That wasn't a place he heard of before outside of anyone other than the Uchiha himself previously. Ozpin said he searched for this 'hidden' village, but factors such as Grimm and the wide search area made it extremely difficult.

"And where is Konoha located?" the officer asked. Good, he knew what to ask, but there was no response. "I'll ask again, wh-"

" _I asked for an audience with Ironwood and Ozpin,_ " Sasuke interrupted. " _Bring them here, and I'll answer the questions._ " Cocky brat.

"You're in no position to make demands," the interrogated said heatedly. "You are a prisoner, the only leverage you have is helping us to lower your prison sentence. Now where is Ko-"

" _That's where you're mistaken, I'm in every position to ignore you and make demands._ "

What nonsense. "If you do not cooperate, we'll have to use other means to pry the answers out of you. Would you prefer that?"

Sasuke scoffed, of all things. " _Did you honestly think the boss would come here personally?_ " The boss? " _I'm a clone, fool._ " James resisted the urge to slam his fist through the screen. Damn it, damn it, damn it! He knew there was something suspicious when things were being too easy. " _What's more, as a clone, I vanish at the slightest injury, and the original will receive the memories I acquired telepathically._ "

The Uchiha used clones before extensively as cover for several days at a time, so this was a lower risk scenario than coming here in person. Of course, he'd send a clone! And if that last statement was true. . . he needed to be caught quick before he went into hiding.

" _And once he learns of your lack of cooperation, boss will find someone else that_ _ **will**_ _work with him. The next person to speak to me must be one of the people I asked for, otherwise I will consider this meeting moot and voluntarily disappear. You have one chance, don't disappoint him._ "

The interrogator looked worriedly towards the general for further instructions, while he himself looked to Oz and Glynda for a suggestion. The headmaster looked stoic as ever, and the deputy headmistress only sighed.

"While I was expecting something, can't say I expected something as simple as this," said Ozpin. He didn't even look slightly frustrated, which only amplified James'.

"You're observation aside," James nearly shouted. "We have a terrorist to capture, and only a shadow to not even show for it." Though even that's going to be nothing quite soon. "If you have a suggestion in capturing the real one before this copy vanishes, I'm listening."

Oz only shook his head, James knew it wasn't possible if Uchiha followed through on his word. He could reach out to a council members of Vale, but he doubted the criminal would risk working with someone who could easily stab him in the back.

Vacuo as a hideout was an unknown, he stole from them enough to antagonize them a bit, but it's worrisome he could appeal to their warrior pride. Atlas or Mantle were easily the cities Sasuke needed to avoid. Along with the general, Jacques would do what he could to double down the hunt for him due to all the Dust he stole from his company.

Mistral, however, was a completely different story. They had an underground full of criminals, one that Sasuke could easily hide in with little trouble. If James were to try anything similar to Vale, then that turns into a diplomatic incident.

Menagerie was also a very likely candidate, one that had its own problems if he decided to arrive at Faunus lands with an armada. Old wounds like that wasn't something to be fiddled with.

"Everyone out," James ordered, causing the soldiers in the vicinity to pause at the bizarre command. "Did I stutter?" And before they could hear another word from the highest ranking officer in Atlas, they got up and left the room.

And now all was left was the three and an Uchiha on screen. This was less than ideal. If he was going to run, then they'd hunt him down, but considering his skill set of hiding even in plain sight, it'll be difficult. James considered shooting him in the head right now, but would do little if the very likely chance this was actually a clone.

With an annoyed grunt, James walked to the mic and pressed down on the button. "This is General Ironwood, and I'm here to discuss your situation. Make no mistake, clone, your creator threw away the offer we put on the table, and won't be brought up once more. Is that understood?"

The captive paused for a moment, likely thinking of his boss' predicament. " _That's unfortunate, but not devastating._ " Damn thing didn't even sound bothered.

Ozpin walked up beside James, who gave him the microphone. "This is Ozpin. You said you would answer our questions, so here's the first one. Why does Sasuke want to come back?" Of all the questions he could have asked. . .

Another pause for some deliberation. " _Convenience_. _Boss would rather work with someone he knew rather than strangers. He knows what you're like, what to expect from you, but the other headmasters and politicians are complete unknowns. And if we can nullify Atlas' ire, the better._ _However, boss will work with unknowns if it came down to it._ "

The headmasters looked to one another. The clones' reasoning was sound, but it brought up another question. "Why does Sasuke want to work with us in the first place? What's his goal?" Oz said through the mic.

" _He wants to find survivors of his village._ "

And that somehow coincided working with Torchwick in stealing a monumental amount of Dust and Paladins? James would sooner believe Torchwick's hereditary, short-term memory excuse.

But during his fight with the team RWBY, he did tell them about finding his friends who were elsewhere, so that matched with his intentions if he was telling the truth. That, or it's a fake story to help the people sympathize with him.

"And stealing Dust is supposed to help with that?" Oz asked. "Not to mention the Paladins he helped steal."

" _Paladins were none of his concern, and neither was the Dust, but rather influence and widespread reputation._ "

Reputation? James could understand acquiring influence to have people do as he says, but reputation was another matter. "And how does that fit in with finding his lost comrades, especially with a reputation as a man named Gaara?" Ozpin asked, thinking the same as him.

The fake Sasuke let out an annoyed breath. " _He would've used his own persona, but the nature of his missions required a cover, and_ _Gaara wasn't only just that, but was also real and a well known soon-to-be village leader before his death. If the iconic name of Gaara and his description spreads wide enough, surely survivors of the village would try finding him._ "

So this Gaara person was based on a real person whose existence was common knowledge, so it sounded like a very plausible plan. If previous information was true of how his village leaders were famous, then then this Gaara could very well be well known as well, but something sounded wrong with that idea.

"I don't believe you," Oz said to the mic. "Sasuke Uchiha never seemed to be the person who used plans based on faith." That was it, that plan was an indirect way of searching with too many loose cogs where mistakes would happen.

The copy let out an amused huff. " _You're correct,_ _perhaps it_ _ **was**_ _out of faith, but it made word spread far very quickly, and most of all, it_ _ **worked**_ _._ " What? " _Just a few hours ago, two survivors found him, and so boss has no intention of letting up on his search if more could be found soon. With or without you._ " James could imagine a smirk on that clone's face under that bag.

So Uchiha found two new allies, and the general couldn't help but feel anxious about what that might entail. If they were anything like Sasuke, it made things very worrisome. And if he somehow found more of them. . .

 _'Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself,'_ James thought as he shook his head. There was always the chance he's lying, and that changes nothing. There's no deal. "And you expect us to help you gather more of them?" The clone nodded. "Oh, and what should we expect in return except a stab in the back?" He's done so before, he'd do so again.

Again, the copy scoffed. " _Sasuke Uchiha is a_ _ **mercenary**_ _, general. You pay him the appropriate amount, his loyalty is yours without question. Bar perhaps a few things he wouldn't do, like aiding in the mass slaughter of civilians._ " He's referencing the breach, of course. " _Hopefully, you wouldn't do anything that would warrant him to turn coats like Roman._ " How 'noble' of him. . .

"Roman was your employer?" Oz asked. "Not anyone else?"

The bag shifted in a way that said the clone tilted its head. " _Only once did Roman mention in passing about someone else being his own employer, but boss answered only to Roman. If you want answers about the other, ask him yourself, boss wasn't told anything he didn't need to know._ "

This actually confirmed what James already knew. Roman wasn't behind these operations, someone else was, which must be why Ozpin asked. He doubted that this Queen character would personally hire Roman. . . would she? No, there had to be someone else. Possibly even the woman by Qrow's account who ambushed Amber.

Or perhaps he should've asked for his response whether Sasuke was _her_ pawn or not. Not that he would say 'yes' to such a thing if he was.

He switched the mic off and turned to his colleagues. "Do any of you believe him?" James asked the two. The clone's answers were. . . rehearsed, to say the least, quick and explained. Although that should've been expected since he was the one who approached them ready for this questioning.

"Almost," Ozpin said. "I don't know about his intentions, but his reasoning to come back to us as his first option seems rehearsed." Good, he noticed as well. "But also could very well be true, particularly the bit about easing up Atlas' animosity towards him. It was his choice to come back here, and he did risk alot for stopping the breach. There's chance we're his only viable option, bar perhaps Mistral, but the hunt would sti-"

The clone interrupted. " _Considering the pause, I'm going to assume your deliberating my words, so I've come with something to ease the deal. Boss understands that trust is low, so he's willing to offer you something you people wanted for a long time._ " Trust was low? That's an understatement.

James switched the mic back on. "I've said this before, there's no deal. Your boss will be hunted all across Remnant, no matter where he hides or where he chooses to side himself with"

" _Then boss will give Mountain Glenn to someone else._ "

That. . . That was unexpected. "What're you talking about?"

" _As you must've noticed, boss has a diverse skill set, and among those, he's capable of making the fallen city of Mountain Glenn into a defensible zone for colonization once again. He's willing to turn your failure into something more. If you won't accept, I'm sure the Council of Vale would appreciate the offer._ "

This was a problem. Ironwood turned to his two friends, both of who looked uneasy at what was said. If Sasuke reached out to the council, he didn't doubt that the Uchiha would get what he wanted. . . but he didn't.

"I know he wouldn't reach out to the council," Ozpin countered. "He knows they'd betray him at the earliest opportunity to help themselves, so he decided to reach out to the people outside of their jurisdiction, someone he can make a deal with little worry from the authorities."

It hit James then and there. It wasn't out of convenience, it was out of protection! If they made a deal with him, then no other form of government can touch him without their. . . No. Without Ozpin's consent. If his story was true, then the Uchiha's people would already be flocking to Vale. So he chose this place because they were already on their way. . .

More of them were coming here.

Sasuke _needed_ Vale.

The clone smothered a growl, but the mic heard it. It was as good as a confession. "Perhaps I'll take you up on that offer." It wasn't James who said it, but rather Ozpin. "However, I want to add a few more details if we should agree." What was he doing!?

He immediately turned off the microphone and looked to Ozpin with more than displeasure. "Are you out of your mind?" Ironwood almost shouted. "Remember what he did not a day ago, you want to work with that?"

Ozpin, in his ever glory with negotiation, nodded. "He needs us, James, not the other way around. I think we can put him to good use." Another form of good use would be dissection, he refrained from adding. "Think about it. If his people were indeed flocking to Vale, he can't just leave or go against the deal in fear of him and his people being hunted."

"There's another way for him and his people to live while being hunted, just ask Qrow's sister," he snapped back. "Last thing we need is more of his kind in one spot to. . . Oh."

Oz nodded. "All in one spot where he and they can be observed and kept under watch." He gestured to the screen to the clone. "Or would you rather have them running around Remnant doing goodness knows what. I understand you're angered by what happened back on your ship, but I have no intention of falling to the same trick twice, James, are you?"

James shook his head. "I see your reasoning, Oz, but what makes you think he won't stab us in the back _again_? Suppose we allow this vagabond reside in Vale once more, this could just be him coming back but now with assistance."

"I'm fully aware of what we have here, James, you don't need to tell me why I should be concerned for letting in Sasuke Uchiha into our midst once more," he said impatiently. "While normally I would agree, there are a few discrepancies I need to clear up."

Ironwood scoffed. "With Uchiha? Assuming he tells the truth." He gestured to the mic. "Go right ahead, but know this, I think it's a mistake to even humor this."

The headmaster nodded and took the mic again. James had to admit that Oz had a few points, but it wasn't worth the risk. If Sasuke and his supposed fellow villagers were given amnesty within Vale, he'd keep them under constant watch, even restrict their movements. It normally wasn't a bad idea, but when it's with someone whose abilities seem unending, that'd be difficult to put control over.

"We'll talk about those conditions at a later time," Oz said through the mic, the clone perked its head to show it was listening. "But first I would like to know a few things. Though I am skeptical if you'll answer truthfully."

" _Whether you believe me or not is your problem, but I'll answer to the best of my knowledge,_ " the clone said.

Oz nodded. "Why did Sasuke bring back Pyrrha's arm?" Of all the questions he could've asked, this wasn't one he considered worth it or compromising! However, the clone seemed unusually still at the question.

" _So, her memory came back,_ " the prisoner said with a sigh.

"While she wasn't willing to share much in details, she only said as much," Ozpin replied. It was true, the redheaded girl was oddly silent on how her arm came back, but she did say it was Sasuke who healed back her whole arm. It was bizarre form of loyalty. "Though I can't help but say that I already knew."

The clone scoffed. " _So you did, but you don't know how._ " It seemed gloating as he said it. " _Do understand, I'm telling you out of goodwill._ " Yes, yes, very generous. As long as he explained how he-

"I did not ask for how, I asked for why." Damn it, Ozpin!

The clone looked confused, even if he did have a bag over his face. " _Does it matter? You could ask about Sasuke Uchiha's myriad of abilities you won't find on anyone else, but you care about his intentions?_ "

"Would you have told me the truth about them anyway?"

The clone let out an amused breath. " _I would've, but carefully. His abilities aren't things you gloat around lest you want someone to shove a knife in your throat while you're asleep. However, as I said, I'd answer to the best of my ability, take that as you will._ " James thought about what that meant. It could be that he'd answer all lies, but also light truths of it, keeping the truth about it veiled while he gave them crumbs. It seemed like something he'd do.

" _Sasuke's intentions on healing Pyrrha's arm was simple. He wanted to, nothing more._ " Not many go on whims to regenerate an entire arm, and it seemed like Oz believed it even less, but the clone continued. " _The people he was around with were a means to an end, and having them mope around for months to come due to a lost teammate wasn't something he-_ "

"I have to stop you right there," the headmaster interrupted. "Here's what I believe." He leaned in, making the wise stance he'd usually make when lecturing. James guessed it was a reflex from how long he'd done this. "I believe that Sasuke considered Pyrrha as a friend, as he did the rest of team RWBY and JNPR."

The copy stayed quiet for few seconds, as did the general, though he wasn't one to break it first. " _What nonsense._ " James didn't think he'd agree with a criminal, but he did this time.

"You said it yourself," Ozpin said smugly. "Parading with the abilities he has is like shouting for people to kill you in your sleep, so why take the risk of getting discovered for Pyrrha if he didn't think she was worth it?"

The clone scoffed and shook its head. " _You heard my answer, you can believe what you will._ "

James couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose. Ozpin had the clone, but he didn't ask the question that could've answered where his abilities came from, or why people would kill him for them. Instead, he asked. . .

"Why did you decide to stay in Miss Rose's room in the infirmary the day after you stabbed her?"

Again, the clone was taken aback at the nature of the question. " _Are these the types of questions you're going to ask?_ "

"Are they that much of an issue for you?" He knew what Oz was doing, he's trying to show Sasuke that he indeed considered the students of Beacon as his friends, even if he seems to be denying and mocking the idea itself. Though he had an inkling that he was also showing James himself. "We know he has a diverse skill set. Summoning beasts, conjuring a giant ethereal armor, control over the elements without the use of Dust, teleportation, illusions, compulsion, the list goes on and on. Honestly, it's a little frightening."

Wait, was that why Ozpin was considering taking him in again? To turn all those abilities to their side? That was if Sasuke was indeed not involved with Salem, which James still had doubts of. . . damn it.

" _Your wordplay is elongating this more than it needs to be. Get to the point, ask your questions, and let me know if we have an agreement._ " Again, James didn't expect to agree with the criminal, especially his increasing agitation.

Ozpin turned off and leaned away from the microphone, looking at James with that look he has when he thinks he's right or when he showed something that proved his point.

"Have you finished asking for your 'discrepancies'?" James asked unamused. "So the man seemed to have bonded with your students, what does that prove? And why was he so stubborn against admitting it?"

"Because he's proud, incredibly so," Glynda answered instead. "Sasuke was alone if he wasn't with teams JNPR and RWBY. At first I thought he preferred solitude, but now it seemed for different reasons. It seemed like he didn't wish to replace his comrades. It's almost poetic."

The general couldn't help but find it skeptical. "I don't see how that fits in with him denying their friendship, assuming it's true in the first place."

"Because he didn't give up, James," she answered. "If we assume he was honest, then he believed his comrades from home were still alive, and would come search for this Gaara character once they learned of him through some means."

"And he couldn't have told us? Couldn't have asked for our aid, and instead went on this mission to steal resources and Atlas military technology for what? Spreading the word out? Forgive me if I find this too suspicious."

Glynda didn't answer, likely she couldn't. The Uchiha's objectives might've been known, but his explanation to achieve them were far too complicated. If it worked as he said, it was insanity.

"I remember on our first day," Oz began, bringing the eyes back on him. "Sasuke looked very apprehensive when I said that he was to be handed to the council. He does not trust authority, so he took it upon himself to find survivors." Ozpin looked contemplative, deeply so. "He doesn't like authority, but is willing to work with them. I suppose that's a sign of how desperate he is. We can control him to a degree."

"Desperate or not, bringing him here is a mistake," James said. "Unless you intend to ambush him, I've no intention of allowing that vagabond to walk freely in Beacon."

To his surprise, Ozpin nodded. "I've no intention of that either, but we can't have him run amok on Remnant. So what do you purpose?"

Ironwood nodded. "An ambush with the finest Huntsmen," he began. "I'll have my ships nearby and surrounding him at the ambush point to make sure he's tracked, while the Huntsmen and droids take him down."

"Normally a fine plan, but you're forgetting two things." Oz held up one finger. "If he managed to escape, he will no longer approach us. You've seen his abilities, and I'm willing to wager he has even more." He held up a second finger. "Suppose he has two allies with him. They could either be stronger or weaker than him, but they're still two unknowns with possibly similar abilities." He looked back to the display showing the clone. "Your operation needs to be a one-shot victory, or it'll be a damning failure. I don't believe the risk is worth it."

"So what would you have us proceed?" James replied with more heat than even he expected. Ozpin was right, Uchiha was an unknown who he'd bet hadn't even showed all his powers, but to give him a free pass was inexcusable!

Oz looked to him. "I do believe you have a subordinate who isn't fond of Sasuke." James knew who he was talking about. "Suppose we give her the duty of being Sasuke's warden, his moves and life completely watched in case he commits an error."

"And if he did?"

"He'd be residing in Beacon, James, where all its residents would descend upon him if he turned coat again." He had to admit, the idea that hundreds of Huntsmen and Huntresses, augmented by his own forces, had James consider Ozpin's idea. "We are no longer asking where he is or what he's been doing. His ability to catch us off guard has been reduced to near none. We'll be there, watching and waiting if he lied to use once more, and we'd not allow him a third chance."

The idea was tempting to take. Uchiha's abilities had always been stronger with a surprise, or when he fought on his own terms. But in Beacon where everyone's aware of who he was and what to expect? There'd be no a successful surprise attack, but rather a swift response. On top of that, Specialist Schnee was no pushover, especially after Sasuke beat her.

"I won't lie, Oz, that sounds functional, but why?" James asked. "Why risk it in the first place? If he's someone who can't be controlled with abilities like what we've seen, then the safest option would be to eliminate him."

Vale's headmaster nodded. "Because he's powerful, even more than he lets on. Imagine if we have him in our fight against Salem?" He could understand that, but that was if Uchiha wasn't under her influence already. "If we see a hint that he was lying and his allegiance was with her, then we'll do it your way."

Was Oz seriously willing to meet him halfway? He was either that confident that he could bring Sasuke to their side, or terrified of the notion that he'd join Salem's. Perhaps that could even be why he had such abilities in the first place.

Which was why he needed to be eliminated, where even he, and Ozpin for that matter, would surely involve themselves to subdue or kill Sasuke Uchiha. His abilities weren't to be mocked, which was also why it was tempting to have him on their side. But was it worth the risk?

No, it wasn't, but Ozpin must've known that more than James did.

"Fine," the general finally responded with a sigh. "For now we'll do it your way." He looked to the Uchiha on screen. "However, I want more out of this deal. As he said, he's a mercenary, let's make good use of it." It also gave room for mistakes he could utilize.

"What did you have in mind?" Glynda asked. "I assume it'll have to be inside Beacon grounds or Vale at least, to keep him in sight." She was right, just to make sure he doesn't escape, Beacon would be the criminal's prison and its occupants his wardens.

And it looked like Oz knew that as well. "Worry not," he said. "I have just the thing in mind. First thing, I do believe we have a clone we need to inform." The two nodded and let Ozpin back on the mic. "We've deliberated with what to do with you, and we have some conditions before moving any further."

The captor nodded, showing that it was listening. "First, you are not allowed to harm any of my students or teachers unless there's special conditions." It nodded again. "Second, you will be followed by a handler, you and your two com-"

" _Three,_ " it interrupted. " _I have three comrades. The woman, Neopolitan, is part of my group now, and should be treated as such._ " James remembered her, the diminutive woman he thought was a little girl when she was arrested.

Ozpin looked to the general for any comment, but he didn't have much to show except suspicion. Her abilities during the previous escape were troublesome, but it shouldn't be difficult with the students in Beacon. He was told one of Oz's students were already able to keep up with her, so it shouldn't be a problem. Reluctantly, James nodded.

"That's fine, but the three of them are his responsibility, which brings us to the third condition," Vale's headmaster said. "Sasuke and his group are not to leave Beacon." The clone took a second, but nodded regardless. "Condition four, if any of his group showed any kind of hostility to Beacon or the kingdoms, the deal's off and will consider this agreement moot and warrant his immediate arrest."

It didn't respond, in fact it looked like it was suspicious of this condition. " _So that's why you provided the third condition. At any error, all students and teachers would pounce on boss._ "

"Do you have a problem with the fourth condition?" James asked authoritatively, almost hoping he'd reject the deal altogether.

" _Not at all,_ " the clone said with a shake of the head. " _Merely acknowledging that you understand what it would take to bring the boss down. Regardless, he has no intention of breaking this agreement, and accepts this condition._ "

Ozpin hummed. "The fifth condition is that if we accept him back in Beacon, we have to let Vale and the world know Sasuke's new allegiance, and _repair_ most of what he'd done with his reign of terror."

" _What do you have in mind?_ " the clone asked, cautious of what that might entail. Again, James found himself agreeing with the criminal.

"We'll make a speech for one, and an announcement of what he'll do to show solidarity with the kingdoms." What he said next had the general slap his own face. "Fortunately Sasuke already has three teammates to join."

* * *

 **How could Suigetsu have his sword when he never had it when the fourth war ended? I just wanted him to have his sword, so I used that blank moment where he was never seen to give him a brief story on what he was doing while 'not on camera'. You can't deny that he had the sword or not because there's no solid evidence he didn't! LOOPHOLE!**

 **But the real reason is simply the 'I just wanted him to have his sword' part, so my exposition to 'why' doesn't matter to me. Though I have two simple rules when I use creative liberties: 1) No bullshit, 2) No convolution.**

 **Trivia:**

 **1-The reason I don't want Naruto to be in my fic besides in passing is because he would ruin what I want Sasuke to do. You want a hero story where the MC just comes in, saves the day and befriends anything with a pulse? 95% of the fics on FF is that exact unimaginative Disney trash (salt, anyone?).**

 **2-One of the mistake that I absolutely** _ **hated**_ **which made me begin rewriting was the lack of visible interaction between Sasuke and the RWBY crew. It made the impact in chapter 5, 7 and 10 duller than I wanted. I need them to show their emotional bond before I claw it with vicious personal ambition. . . I swear I'm sane.**

 **3-The biggest excuse why I wasn't working on this as much as I should is because of my new PS4. Combined with Overwatch, Titanfall 2, and MGSV. . . anyone wanna team up?**

 **On the plus side I've made three other stories while rewriting, if you're interested.**


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